Military Affairs
by strandedthought
Summary: Ken Pierce was facing writer's block, but after creating characters of two military officers he gets sucked into their lives. Epilogue posted!
1. Inspiring Interactions

I don't own FMA, but I do own the character Ken, Jeff, and any other original character that creep into the following chapters.

**:)-------(:**

He often sat in coffee shops marinating in the inspiring ambience. It was a regular occurrence for him to be listening to the variety of people milling about in each café. He paid careful attention to the way each person spoke, soaking up the syntax, and searching for new voices. It was a good way for him to create new characters his readers could relate to.

It was during one of his trips that he discovered two new characters. It had been a while since he had written anything that remotely resembled romance, but this pair had him itching to give it another try.

His numerous journeys had taught him that the evening crowd was most diverse. There were people on dates, teenagers who thought it was cool to grab coffee with their friends, adults that had just come from dinner or work, and the unfortunate people just on their way to work, or on their break. He was rapidly getting bored with the quiet group that filled the softly lit room. The soft tinkle of the bell signaling the opening of the door caught his attention. He almost laughed at the sight he beheld. A woman in military blues held open the glass door for a flustered man wearing the same uniform.

"Hawkeye, I'm capable of opening the door, even if it's raining," the raven-haired man told his companion. The woman gave him a stern glare that clearly meant get your ass inside before I make you. The man quialed under her glare, entered the dimly lit room, and muttered his thanks. She followed two paces behind him. Her eyes roved around the room in a practiced manner. The presence of the military officers commanded everyone's attention, but her gaze made them all turn away.

He watched the way her blond hair glinted in the amber light when she turned as he called her name.

"Sir?" she responded.

"Tea?" he asked.

Her head titled slightly upward to better read the menu board. The writer decided to play a game—to build the character he was creating in his head. It was cold so she would probably get a warm tea—something a bit sweet, but familiar.

"Cinnamon Apple, please," she told the clerk.

The writer occasionally glanced up at them while jotting down notes. He was reflecting about the man's comment on rain, and he finally realized who he was—The Flame Alchemist, and surely the lady with him was his Lieutenant. She was said to have the best aim in all Armestris, but she probably wouldn't agree with that. He had heard about her modesty.

During the writer's musings the alchemist had ordered his own drink and was handing his money over to the clerk.

"I'll pay for my—"

The man silenced her with a look, "Hawkeye, if you insist on opening doors for me, then I must insist on paying."

"Fine, but don't expect this to get you out of your paperwork tonight, Sir." She had crossed her arms and was staring at him—challenging him.

He stared back and laughed. The writer desperately whished he was sitting closer to the pair, because the alchemist leaned down to whisper something into her ear that made her go pale and avoid eye contact. If only he could have been closer he might have heard a snatch of what was said.

They didn't have to stand in the awkward silence for long before their drinks were served. The alchemist led the way to the door and made a point of holding it open for her.

Once they were outside the door the man pulled an umbrella out of his coat pocket and opened it. She looked at him disdainfully when he pulled her under the umbrella and stepped away. Their exchange was unheard through the glass door. The man put the umbrella in her hand and walked away. The woman's shoulder's slumped in defeat, and she ran to catch up with him. The writer watched them walk down the street, standing shoulder to shoulder under the umbrella, until the black umbrella and blue uniforms melted into the sea of people walking in the downpour.

He raised his mug for a refill. The clerk was beside him with a fresh mug of hot chocolate in seconds. The clerk's eyes glanced at the man's weathered journal. "You finally got somethin' Ken?"

Ken glanced up at the clerk, a man he had come to know well over the past month of nightly visits to the small café. At first, Ken had thought Jeff a simple man, but that had changed the first time he had a conversation with him. Jeff was quiet, but a natural born observer. Ken found Jeff was a great help when he needed someone to bounce and idea off, a sounding board of sorts.

"Yeah, I'm going to give romance a try this time," he answered stirring the whipped topping into the rich, brown liquid.

Jeff pulled off his black apron, and called out to his co-worker, "Hey Jill, I'm gonna' take my fifteen." He slumped down into the chair across from Ken and sighed, "The Colonel and Lieutenant?"

Ken was no longer surprised by Jeff's accurate guesses. As a matter of fact he would have been disappointed if Jeff hadn't been correct. He nodded and took a sip of the rich drink.

"Good, they need a bit of romance, even if it is fictional. It's always amusing to watch their interactions. You know who they are, right?" Jeff asked.

"The Flame Alchemist and his steadfast Lieutenant Hawkeye, but I can't recall his name. The only reason I know hers is because he used it. I've got some research to do anyway. Do you know if that Anti-Fraternization Bill is still in act?"

"Colonel Roy Mustang—a hero of the Ishbalan War, and he's the youngest colonel in the history of our nation. Somethin' tells me he's gonna' change this country. Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye—saved many men during the Ishbalan War, including that of our famed alchemist. Her aim is the thing of legends. If she wasn't working as the bodyguard of an alchemist she would be climbing the ranks faster than a monkey climbs a tree. As you can tell, she's fiercely loyal and her presence commands respect."

Ken looked up at Jeff from the notes he had been scribbling. "Thanks, that's good to know."

"Oh, the law, I haven't read anything about it being changed, and that would surely make the papers," he answered.

"Thanks. You know I'm dedicating this book to you, right?" Ken told him.

Jeff frowned. "Jus' don't use my name. I like people to think I'm none the wiser. All I want is a simple life."

"It's a deal," Ken said. "You want to hear the pitch?"

"Sure."

Ken looked down at his notes. "It's going to be about fighting the corruption of the military-"

Jeff interrupted him, "Ken, I recommend you go in a different direction, unless you don't mind winding up six-feet-under, cause the M.P.'s will be all over you."

Ken was silent for a few minutes. "I can't have them pounding on my door day and night. What if I set it in another world?"

"Better, but be careful," Jeff replied.

"He's a war hero, a great General of the Drachman War, but the Drachmans that he defeated are eager to kill him, and many spies infiltrate Armestris to accomplish this task. After he escapes the first attempt he is appointed a bodyguard. She's a sniper, a military assassin, because you need an assassin to find one," Ken took a deep breath.

"No more corrupt military?" Jeff asked.

"No, it's too risky. I enjoy breathing," Ken explained.

"It sounds a little cliché, but romance is. You can make it work," Jeff approved.

"Thanks again. I'll write up a plot summary tonight and take it to my publisher tomorrow," Ken said. He closed his notebook and finished off the now cool drink.

Jeff wished him good luck, tied the apron around his waist, and relieved Jill. On his way out Ken dug into his pockets and dumped a generous tip into the plastic container by the registers.

**:)-------(:**

A.N.-And thus ends the first chapter of Military Affairs. I was going to post this in Random One-shots, but it's going to be at least three chapters long, so it get's its own story. Royai will occurr in future chapter, but the next chapter has more Maria RossxDenny Brosh. Thanks for reading, please review!! ((edited 4/30/07

Character names: Ken is named after my creative writing teacher. Jeff is named after my older brother. Both the character and my brother are extremely insightful, but most people wouldn't think so. Jill is named after my good friend. We were notorious for being found sitting in various coffee shops talking about nothing and everything.


	2. Homicidal Reverie

I do not own FMA, or Phantom of the Opera.

However, I do own Ken Pierce, Joseph Alsvid, and Elizabeth Tridae.

**:)-------(:**

Maria Ross waited eagerly in line. Her fingers absentl-mindedly running over the glossy cover, tracing the bubbled letters of the words Military Affairs for the twelfth time. Her bright eyes were focused on the author now that she could see him.

Denny frowned at her excitement. What was so good about him anyway? He'd go as far as to bet a whole week's wages that his red hair was dyed. Then his moustache, the thing was hideous and unkempt. It looked like it was going to eat his upper lip. Denny rubbed his finger over the skin above his lip and deepened his frown. He couldn't even grow peach fuzz in said area.

Denny was brought out of his thoughts by a timid tug on his sleeve. She was smiling at him. "Come on, we're holding up the line."

Denny looked past Maria, and sure enough there was a two foot space in between them and the woman standing in front of them. He apologized to the crowd of men and women behind him and moved forward with Maria. "So, what's this guy usually write about?" he asked.

Maria, and a few people surrounding him, looked at him with wide eyes, "You've never read his books before? Why'd you come?"

Denny shrugged. "I just thought he must be good if you like him so much," he said dryly.

Maria smiled again. "Yeah, he's great. He usually writes action and suspense, but there is a rumor that he put a bit of romance in this one," Maria explained waving up her book.

Denny flipped over the copy in his hands and read the synopsis on the back to himself.

_When Armestris faces the forces of the Drachman Army General Joseph Alsvid, __the Liquid Alchemist, becomes the hero of the valiant struggle to keep our country safe. When the war ends everything seems to settle down, that is until a group of Drachmans attempt to kill Joseph. For his safety he is relocated to Southern Headquarters and assigned a bodyguard, but the vengeance of a Drachman is hard to escape_. _Soon Joseph and his steadfast bodyguard, Elizabeth Tridae, are traveling in disguise through Drachman territory to rescue his kidnapped niece, the only family he has. _

Denny held back a laugh and almost snorted. It sounded horrible, but he would read it, so he had something else to talk to about with Maria.

"Next in line please," a man's voice called.

Maria pulled Denny's sleeve again and whispered, "I can't believe I get to meet him." Denny made his lips form a forced smile at her enthusiasm and followed her up to the table.

"Hi Mr. Pierce, will you sign my book?" Maria asked unable able to look directly at him.

"Sure, but call me Ken," he said and flashed her a smile. "Anything special you'd like me to write?" he asked as he took the book from her. Their hands met momentarily, and she blushed like a schoolgirl. Ken found her adorable with her nervous smile, red cheeks, boy-cut brunette hair, beauty mark on the apple of her cheek, and eyes the color of his favorite drink. He couldn't help but flash his best smile at her again. She giggled. He couldn't contain himself, "Do you have any questions? I'll answer anything for you," he said smoothly and winked at her.

"I…I…uhm…could you just write for Maria Ross and sign it? And…if you don't mind I do have a couple questions. I heard this is the first of a trilogy, is that true? Also, there's a rumor that the two main characters are based on real people, is that true too?"

Denny held back a growl, but glared at Ken Pierce with all the malice he could muster. How dare he flirt with Maria so ruthlessly. How dare he use her infatuation for his own personal gain. Denny's eyes followed Ken's hand as he scrawled an inscription onto the inside of the front cover—his well trained military eyes didn't miss the phone number written under the signature.

"You seem to have good sources Maria. This is going to be a trilogy, and all three books will be released by the end of the new year. As for your other inquiry, don't tell anyone else I told you, but I don't actually know the two Joseph and Elizabeth are based off of, but I heard overheard a brief interaction between them in a café while they were on break, and," he motioned for her to lean in closer, and when she did he continued in a whisper, "they're two military officers."

Maria leaned back, and blinked her wide, brown eyes at him in surprise. "Really?"

Never before during any of his book signings has he ever been so captivated and attracted by a woman. Maybe it was the way her eyes conveyed naïve innocence and a killer's instincts at the same time. When he added that to her pixie-cut he knew she was a woman of the military. He liked the contradiction he saw in her personality, tough yet frail. He nodded in answer to her doubt and gave her his award winning grin again. When he handed the book back to her he let his fingers skim hers for a brief moment longer than the first time. "Thank you for your time Maria Ross. I really hope you enjoy it."

"I always enjoy your work. Thank you Ken," she replied hugging the book to her chest.

Denny intensified his glare at the red-head and ushered Maria away. She only turned to look back at Ken once, and the despicable man winked and waved at her. Denny was strangely reminded of the scene in _Phantom of the Opera_ where Christine is lead away by the Phantom to his lair under the opera house. Denny halted, had he just compared himself to the Phantom of the Opera? He shook his head to clear his thoughts.

Maria felt the absence of his hand on her back and looked at him. After a few seconds of strange silence, in which he stood in the strange daze that he had been falling into all afternoon, she realized he didn't even speak to Ken. "Hey, why didn't get your book signed?" she asked.

He wanted to tell her, but he only had the courage to halfway say it. "I didn't come for his signature," he answered.

Maria was confused—she didn't know how to reply. She ducked her head and changed the subject, "Did you hear what he told me?"

Denny frowned, he wanted to go find a dark cave and die. He couldn't believe she had just brushed off his confession like a bothersome fly. He felt a primal urge to go back and hold his pistol to Ken's head. Instead he imagined watching the man's blood spatter onto the blow-up picture of his book.

When he didn't answer Maria assumed he was waiting for her to continue, so she did, "He told me they're built around officers he saw in a coffee shop. They have to be from Central."

Denny's only response was a quickly grunted, "Must be." Denny continued on with his homicidal reverie until Maria asked if he wanted to grab lunch with her.

**:)-------(:**

A.N.-I've decided to break up the chapters based on the time lapses. This one takes place about 3 or 4 months after the scene at the coffee shop. I've tweaked Denny's character a bit, so he is a little more aggressive than his role in the anime/manga. For all the MaraixDenny lovers out there you'll see more of them in the next chapter. As for you Royai fans, they make an appearence in the next scene. Were the pov changes between Denny and Ken confusing? Do I need a pagebreak to alert you to them? So what do ou think so far? Review and let me know!

Thank you for reviewing: Dailenna, WinglessFairy25, Animeluvr8, Bizzy, Mirage992, and MoonStarDutchess.

Shall we play the name game again? JosephJoey, sounds like Roy. As for his last name Alsvidone of the horses that pulled Sol's(the Norse Sun Goddess) chariot. In Norse mythology it is said that the sun did not give off light, but instead it came from the manes of Arvak and Alsvid. ElizabethRiza's code name in the manga. Tridaethe last half of the scientific name(accipitridae) for the hawk species. Joseph Alsvid's title, Liquid Alchemist, is credited to Dailenna. His specialty is liquid, which he has learned to control, and he, like Roy can manipulate the air around him to change the temperature of liquids. He can do anything from freezing a liquid to make it so hot it evaporates.


	3. Stolen Books and Formalities

I don't own FMA.

However, I do own Ken Pierce, Jeff, Jill, General Joseph Alsvid, Charlotte Alsvid, Elizabeth Tridae, Julie Mrow, and any other original characters that creep into this story.

**:)-------(:**

Denny had his tray of food in hand and searched for the familiar head of chestnut hair. He frowned when he found it surrounded by other female officers, no doubt talking about the book they were all reading.

As he walked closer to the group he could hear the voices of the women, one above the rest said, "Did you really go to meet him in person? Isn't he so handsome? I love his red hair!" Denny could identify the voice as Julie Mrow, a Second Lieutenant. He remembered her as one of the woman that hates Lieutenant Hawkeye for her "close relationship" with Mustang.

Denny glanced at Maria to judge her reaction and deepend his frown when he saw her nodding in reply. He was about to turn and walk away, but she called out to him. He used that forced smile again and crossed the remaining distance to the table.

The women around her went silent the minute he sat down. Maria turned to him and struck up a conversation. "Re-evaluations are coming up, how do you think you're going to do?" she asked.

Denny let the forced smile be replaced with a real one when he noticed she didn't want to talk about the amazing Ken Pierce or his book. They talked about hand to hand combat, firearms, and endurance test until the others got bored and left them alone. When they were alone she gave him a grateful smile. "Thanks, they're starting to get annoying. I shouldn't have told them I've got his phone number. That's all they ever want to talk about," she explained.

"Oh," Denny replied unsure how to feel about the fact that she had just used him.

"So, how far have you gotten?" she asked.

Denny took extra long to chew and swallow the piece of chicken in his mouth. "I've gotten just past the halfway point. They're in Drachma, where Elizabeth gets hurt but doesn't tell Joseph."

"I'm almost done," she stated proudly. "I've been keeping in mind what Ken told me, and there are only two people I can think of that match his characters.

Denny couldn't deny his interest in the subject, but he didn't want to admit that the man he considered a rival had his attention. He used his tactic of eating slowly again. "Who do you think it is?" he asked hoping he didn't sound too interested. He even enacted tactic two before she answered—take a long swig of his root beer.

"Colonel Mustang, Lieutenant Hawkeye," she said amicably.

Bubbles of carbonation filled his nostrils, and made his eyes water as he choked and spluttered, "What?"

He hadn't noticed her hand rising in salute.

"Are you okay Sergeant Brosh?" Riza Hawkeye asked as she stepped into his line of vision and handed him a napkin.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye," Denny managed to say. Roy Mustang stepped into view. "Colonel Mustang," he acknowledged the man. Salutes were exchanged. "I just had a…uh…delayed reaction to something Ross said."

Mustang clucked his tongue. "No need for formalities. We're all off duty at the moment."

Riza held out a familiar book to Maria.

"I already have a copy," Maria told her. While attention was focused on the two women Denny cleaned off the spattered table and discretely wiped his nose.

"No, this one is yours. It has your name in it Maria. Havoc must've swiped it from your desk when you left to lunch. He was using it to chat up a delivery girl outside," Riza explained.

Maria gratefully took the book and checked the inside cover to make sure it was hers.

"He was saying something about being goof friends with the author. Says that the main character was based off of him," Roy's words were lost in his laughter. He took a deep breath and continued, "All you have to do is open it up to the first page and notice the character isn't smoking to know the truth."

Maria nodded.

"Well, we should get in line before it gets longer," Riza said.

"Than you Riza," Maria called to the already retreating pair. Riza raised a hand to wave it off. Maria watched them.

"Riza," Roy said.

"Sir," she responded.

"Riza," he whined emphasizing the first syllable of her name and drawing out the second one.

"Sir?" she questioned her voice low and warning.

"I thought I said no formalities back there," he pointed out.

"You did," she agreed.

"And you called Maria Maria," he stated.

"That is her name, Sir," she replied.

"Well, my name isn't sir," he said agitated.

Riza cocked her head to the side and waited a few minutes before answering, "It isn't? Oh, that's right, you prefer Colonel."

"No, it' just…" he trailed off to a mumble when he realized she wouldn't let up.

"Stop talking to yourself Roy. People might start to think you've gone crazy," she told him as they took their place in line.

Maria laughed as she overheard they're exchange. "That was close."

"So you did mean those two," Denny asked.

"Yes, if you listen to the way those two talk to each other it's obvious. He almost made it too easy to tell. An alchemist with a female bodyguard, how many state alchemists have a female bodyguard here in central? Two—it has to be them because the other pair gets along swimmingly. Then the names—Elizabeth and Riza are too close for coincidence. The main difference between the character and Riza is the title difference. Riza is a first lieutenant while Elizabeth is part of a branch of the military Ken made up, a special task force trained to stealthily take out people who are in the act or have committed treason. Only people with composure and marksmanship like Riza's would be part of it," Maria took a deep breath. "Then, there is Joseph Alsvid. His niece calls him Joey, and whose name does that sound like—Roy. Plus, his alchemic abilities are just like Roy's, except with liquids. He's a war hero. Oh, and there's more than one passage about how much he despises paperwork. The big difference between Joseph and Roy is social lives, but Joseph is taking care of his niece, so his social life wouldn't be very active. What we just heard is another clue. Elizabeth insists on calling him general or sir until he makes her stop," Maria finished her explanation and flippd through her book to get a passage that supported her theory.

"Here, page 63, towards the bottom. When Elizabeth puts Charlotte to bed," she said putting the book in front of Denny.

Denny scanned the page and found the passage she was indicating.

_Elizabeth gazed longingly at the raven-haired girl smiling at her through half closed eyes._

_"'Night Elizabeth," the girl half-said through a yawn._

_"Goodnight Charlotte," Elizabeth replied and turned out the bedroom light. Elizabeth fingered the copy of Snow White in her hands while she watched the girl's eyes finally close all the way in the flickering light of a single candle in the small bedroom. She set the book back on the shelves by the door, let her hair down, and ran her fingers through it until the girl's breathing evened out. "General?" she asked._

_Joseph pushed off from the door frame of his bedroom where he had been watching the nightly routine Elizabeth and Charlotte had developed and walked towards the blonde. "It wouldn't actually kill you to say my name once," he said._

_"My business here is professional, Sir. I'd like to keep it that way," she replied meeting him halfway so they wouldn't wake the sleeping child._

_"Your relationship with my niece hardly seems professional," he said roughly his sky blue orbs piercing her emerald ones._

_"I…I," she fumbled for words to explain herself, to reason away his claim, but she couldn't. She didn't know why this particular child was able to defrost her. She had made so many children into orphans without even batting an eye, but from the first time she met Charlotte the child had a place in her heart. She had even began to thing about retiring from S.O.A.T. and taking a desk job. She ducked her head in defeat, he was right. She was sure he could deduce exactly what she was thinking._

_Joseph smirked at the slight panic her eyes held at first. Had she really just realized the way her actions with Charlotte revealed what she really wanted?_

_"You're right, General. I'm sorry," she apologized._

_Joseph frowned. "Don't be. She's taken quite a liking to you. Besides, she needs a female in her life. You're a good role model for her." Elizabeth was looking at him again. The surprise at his words was evident in her wide eyes. He smiled at her glad to see her unmasked form for once. "I think I'll be able to find it in my heart to forgive you, but," he winked at her, "you'll have to call me by name while it's just the three of us. I don't mind titles when we're out in public. We do have reputations to hold up. Besides, if you're always calling me sir or general Charlotte might decide to follow your example_."

Denny closed the book and handed it back to Maria, "You're right, it has to be them," Denny replied watching the two mentioned officers sitting together with their trays of food.

"So, do you think there's anything blooming between those two?" Maria asked.

Denny stared at her. "You know Lieutenant Hawkeye better than I do. What do you think?"

"I think they would be together if the fraternization laws weren't in effect," Maria said.

"Screw the frat laws. Hardly anyone follows them anyway," Denny hissed.

Denny nearly fell out of his chair when an arm wrapped around his shoulder, and someone was saying, "Well said, Sergeant, well said." Denny turned his head and found Jean Havoc was the culprit. Maria was laughing. "So, you're finally trying to persuade Maria to go out on a date with you. We knew you'd pluck up the courage sooner or later." Jean turned to the speechless Maria. "How can you resist him?"

Both Maria and Denny flushed with embarrassment. Denny removed Jean's arm from around his shoulder. "What do you want?" Denny asked refraining from punching the chain smoker.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye told me I had to apologize about borrowing your book without asking. I was going to put it back, but she took it from me," Jean told Maria.

"Oh," Maria replied.

"Well, actually I wanted to ask if I could really borrow it. I kind of told Schiezka I was reading it, and now she wants to talk to me about it. We've got a date Friday night, so please can I borrow it?" he asked using his best puppy dog eyes.

"Sure, but I'll give it to you tomorrow, okay?" she gave in, not because the puppy dog eyes, but because she knew he would make a scene if she didn't agree.

"Thanks Maria, you're a lifesaver," he said. He was already turning to walk away, but stopped and turned back to them. "Hey why don't we make it double date? You two are reading the book, right? Come on, it'll be perfect."

"The fraternization-"

Jean cut Maria off, "Now, now, what did Denny say a few minutes ago? Besides, I'm ignoring them."

Denny mumbled and let his head fall onto the table.

"What was that?" Jean asked.

"The laws don't apply for Schiezka, she's non-comissioned," Maria said flatly.

"Oh, well, are you going to come or not?" he asked.

"Will you go away if we say yes?" Denny asked.

"Yep."

"Fine, we'll go," Maria said.

"Okay, Friday night, I'll make the reservations and let you know when and where. I'll just leave you love birds alone now," Jean grinned and walked away.

"We're not…" Denny and Maria tired to tell him, but he was already gone.

"I can't believe that guy," Denny muttered.

"He just doesn't know when to stop, does he?" Maria asked.

Denny shook his head in response and enacted his two tactics of avoiding conversation, so she wouldn't know how much he was looking forward to Friday night.

**:)-------(:**

A.N.-Surely Schiezka won't miss the similarities between the character's and Roy and Riza. Next update won't be until Friday.

Thanks for Reviewing: OTP, BlueRose.xoxo, Mirage992, Bizzy, WinglessFairy25, Smokerbabe, Dailenna, Animeluvr8, MoonStarDutchess, Riza Hawkeye 9, and the anonymous reviewer.

Names: Charlotte Alsvid: Charlotte from Lottie from the nick name given to Christine in Phantom of the Opera. Julie Mrow: Nothing too special for her. Just her last name backwards is worm. S.O.A.T.: Special Operations Against Treason.


	4. Elizabeth

I don't own FMA,

But I do own my original characters.

Thanks for letting me know about the typos Bizzy.

**:)-------(:**

"So Denny, you ready for tonight?" Jean asked nudging his young friend in the ribs.

Denny used his shoulder to shove Jean away. He was disturbed at the other man's invasion of his personal space in the bathroom. He zipped up his pants and walked to the sink. "Armstrong has given me permission to leave early, as soon as I finish my last pile of paperwork I can go. Did you finish the book?"

Jean washed his hands at the sink next to Denny. He creased his brow and ran a wet hand through his hair. "Almost."

Denny rolled his eyes. "And almost means?"

"That I've got a little over fifty pages to go, so I better get going," Jean said. He tore a sheet of paper towels from the dispenser and started walking towards the exit whistling.

"You're off already?" Denny asked.

"You bet. I put in for a short day. I think Chief was so surprised I have a date that he approved it. Don't forget, By Word of Mouth at 1900 hours."

Denny watched Jean stroll down the hall whistling contentedly. He didn't know Havoc was even interested in Schiezka. She was different from the type the man usually chased after.

* * *

The date went well considering Jean didn't know what to think of Schiezka's oddly attractive appearance, Denny was so far beyond nervous he couldn't string together more than two or three words, Maria couldn't stop with her small talk, and Schiezka was surprised that the Jean Havoc sitting across from her was staring at her so intently.

The restaurant was brimming with people. The chatter of the patrons was so loud they could barely hear Denny's nervous stutters or Maria's compulsive chatter. Schiezka came to the glum realization that she couldn't pump the three of them for information in the restaurant. She relaxed and enjoyed the food and company. She even found herself laughing at jokes she might have found tasteless in a different atmosphere.

She was unnerved when Jean asked her to dance, but before she could accept or deny he was already pulling her from her seat and leading her to the crowded dance floor. She relaxed in his arms to the slow melody wafting around the room. She was amazed that his hands didn't wander during the dance. When they sat back down the bill was ready to be paid, and they decided to go somewhere a little quieter.

It was Jean who made the bold move of taking his date's hand as they walked along the lamppost lined lane. Schiezka glanced at him in surprise, but kept her hand secured in his. Jean glanced at the pair next to him. Maria was nervously picking at the bouquet of carnations and roses in her hand.

Jean wondered how many times he would have to help this guy out. He took a small side step to avoid pulling at Schiezka, and he caught Denny under the foot as he took a step. Denny glared at Jean who looked down at his own hand holding Schiezka's, then to Denny, and to Maria. Denny sighed. He couldn't believe he was taking dating advice from Jean again—first, the flowers, and now this. He waited until Maria took her hand away from the bouquet, but before his hand reached her she had it in the air pointing. "That place seems good, The Daily Grind."

"It doesn't seem too crowded," Schiezka observed.

A bell chimed as Jean opened the door for his companions. A soothing Jazz song hung softly in the air accompanied by the low buzz if conversation, shadowed amber lights hung from the ceiling, and the fragrance of coffee and tea permeated the air.

It was one of those places that made people feel they could have a private conversation in the comfortable chairs in the corner without having to worry about prying eyes or eavesdropping ears. After ordering their drinks they found a corner to sit in. Four plump burgundy chairs were burdened with their bodies and the round mahogany table laden with their drinks.

Someone on the other side of the room glanced up at the quartet, and after a brief moment of staring was lost in a book again.

Schiezka eagerly began the conversation, "Did you enjoy the book Jean?"

"It was interesting. I didn't like the end, it should have been happier, not so bitter sweet," he explained.

"It's the first of a trilogy," Maria spoke up.

"Oh, that would explain it," Jean said.

"The end was bitter sweet. When Elizabeth told him to leave her and get Charlotte out of their safely I thought he wasn't going to do it, but as soon as she made the ceiling cave in to block the team from getting to Joseph and Charlotte I knew he wouldn't do anything stupid. The second one must be about him going back for her," Schiezka said with a glow of excitement in her eyes. She hadn't really thought Jean was much of a reader, but when she talked to him she had found he had taken up reading when he had broken his leg as a teenager and couldn't do anything else during the long summer days.

"There's only one thing that bugged me while I was reading the book," Havoc stated.

"What could possibly be wrong with it, the characters were very real, and the plot line was great," Schiezka said. Maria and Denny nodded in agreement.

"Every time I read the name Elizabeth I thought of Hawkeye, because that's always her code name during missions. Then I…" he trailed off when he saw the three of them staring at him with wide eyes. "What?" he asked.

Schiezka recovered first. "Nothing," she said. "Then you?"

From the other corner of the room the reader stared at him over the book in her hands. They didn't notice.

Jean chewed on the little red straw that was in the place of his usual cigarette. "Then I noticed how similar Hawkeye and Elizabeth are. It's like the author has known Hawkeye all her life. I was actually telling Hawkeye about it the other day. She thought it was funny, and decided to go buy the book," he stopped talking. They were staring at him again. It wasn't just polite 'I'm looking at you because your talking' stares, but 'you've grown another head' stares.

Maria blinked a few times. She hadn't really expected him to get the similarities without being told. He did have a reputation for not being the brightest star in the sky.

"Really, it's her code name, isn't that a weird coincidence? I don't even know her half as well as you do, but it was hard for me to miss the similarities. Oh, and Liquid Alchemist, doesn't that remind you of Flame Alchemist? I remember reading the records on the state alchemists and reading that Roy uses manipulation of the air in his alchemy also," Schiezka said.

"When Maria met with the author he told her something you two might find interesting," Denny told them.

Jean was happy to finally have to attention turned from him. "He told me Elizabeth and Joseph were made after military officers he overheard a conversation from in a café here in Central," Maria told Jean and Schiezka.

"So, it really could be them," Schiezka mused.

"It is them, we've already ruled out everyone else. They're the only two in Central we know of that are anything like these characters," Denny said.

Schiezka was quiet for a moment. "Alsvid, Alsvid, where have I heard that before," she muttered.

"So, this guy, Ken Pierce is writing a trilogy around two characters he based off of Hawkeye and Mustang? And it is definitely about their relationship," Jean said with a strange glint in his eyes.

"I remember! Alsvid is a horse from a myth. One of the horses that pulled the sun goddesses' chariot across the sky. Alsvid—Mustang!" Schiezka exclaimed.

"There's no doubt now," Maria said.

"What do you think he overheard?" Denny asked.

"It has to be something that hinted at romance. Do you think they were on a date?" Jean asked.

"No, he knew they are military officers, so they must have been in uniform," Maria said.

Jean frowned. He'd been trying to find evidence of the two having a romantic relationship for a while. He liked the idea of the two being involved since they made a good team, and at times argued like husband and wife, but he knew his search was futile. He couldn't see either of them settling down with anyone else, but neither would be so foolish as to put the other in danger by having anything but a professional relationship.

"So, do you think they might be involved with each other?" Schiezka asked.

"No," Jean said. "Truthfully she wouldn't do anything that would jeopardize his goal, even if that means never getting married."

"I'd have to agree," Maria said. "If it weren't for that, the laws, and their stubbornness I'd say they were."

"That law is stupid, it's outdated. People break it all the time," Denny exclaimed.

Schiezka looked at him for a second. "Uhm, in the new hand book coming out it's been changed. I guess someone pointed out that it's hard to find a wife or husband outside of the military since the job is very demanding and sometimes dangerous, so as a result the law is being modified. As long as the couple can prove that it won't affect their working habits and performance a relationship is allowed, but if it does affect their performance both will face a court martial, and one will be asked to leave the military," she recited.

"Really, so these two will be able to go out without a problem now?" Jean asked looking pointedly at Maria and Denny.

"Yep," Schiezka said happily—missing the shocked looks from both Maria and Denny.

No one noticed the reader bury her head back in her book in the other corner of the room. She had blocked out their earlier talk about the very book she was reading—it was a good book, and she didn't want them to spoil it for her—but when her name was mentioned she immediately tuned into their conversation. It was strange hearing their reasoning. She herself had picked up on what Jean had told her. Then, what Schiezka said about Roy, it was strange considering that two characters so similar to herself and her superior were in the same book. The most shocking revelation she heard was Maria's. It had to have been that time they stopped by the very café she now sat in on their way back to headquarters after chasing down a false lead on Scar.

Her mind was reeling. What had they talked about? The door, and him insisting on paying for her drink. Her cheeks turned red as she remembered the words he whispered in her ear. _"I'm sure I could find a way to get out of doing my paperwork if I really wanted to."_ It wasn't actually the words that heated her cheeks, but the husky tone he had used, how he'd been so close his lips had brushed her ear at one point, the warmth of his breath flooding onto her neck, the eye contact he made when pulling away, and the smirk that played on his lips. She buried herself in the book again.

She didn't want the group to notice her. It was bad enough that they were discussing her romantic life, but she didn't want them to know she had overheard it. She put her focus back into the words on the page, she already new about the amendments to the hand book. She only had a few pages left. Schiezka had already summed up the ending for her, but it wasn't really spoiled. Riza had been able to predict it. After all, Elizabeth was the same as her.

**:)-------(:**

A.N.-I know this was short, and late. I was having trouble with this chapter. You've finally found out what he said! This one is short because I didn't think it was really necessary to go back over Maria's claims from the last chapter. I should be able to get a nice chunk of work done on this over the next four days, hopefully I'll be able to finish writing it during this week.

Thank you for reviewing: UnheardGoodConscience, Riza Hawkeye 9, Mirage992, MoonStarDutchess, Bizzy. Breion, Anne Packrat, OTP, OneMoreBite, SmokerBabe, WinglessFairy25, Animeluvr8, Dailenna, and BlueRose.xoxo.

By Word Of Mouth-I think I've heard that used as a restuarant name before-I don't own it. Daily Grind-A small coffee shop I used to pass on my way to work-again, I don't own that particular cafe, only the one in here.


	5. Body Guards

I don't own FMA

Edited 5/30-thanks OneMoreBite!

**:)-------(:**

"Good Morning, Sir." Riza saluted as he entered the office.

"Morning Lieutenant." He returned the salute, hung his coat, and trudged to his desk. "What've we got today?"

"A briefing on Scar's recent movements at 1030 hours, Fullmetal will be in at 1230 hours to hand in his reports before he travels East," She paused as Roy groaned, "Nothing else besides paperwork after that."

"Does it ever end?" Roy mumbled.

"Scar, Fullmetal, or the paperwork, Sir?" she asked as she skimmed over the reports they'd need for the meeting.

"All of them, Hawkeye."

"Eventually it will all come to and end, but you'd have to retire first."

"I guess that's fair. They wouldn't call it work if it was fun, right? At least I'll have retirement to look forward to. If I make it that long." He sat down and rested his head on the clean desk for a moment.

"Long night?" Riza inquired.

He picked up his head enough for her to make out a nod and a yawn. She scowled at him, and hid a yawn of her own behind her hand.

Jean walked into the office just in time to catch the tail end of her uncharacteristic behavior. He was sure he hadn't seen her yawn since Ishbal. "Tired, Lieutenant Hawkeye?" he asked.

"No, yawning is conta-ta-gious," she explained through another yawn and then sunk back into her task, only looking up when the last three made it into the office. She briefly let her mind stray to the conversation she had heard in the café, and wondered what Jean had thought when he entered the office to find she was alone with Roy.

She looked through her fringe of bangs to Roy. He was still slumped over on his desk, but she could tell from his breathing that he was still awake. After letting him wallow for thirty minutes she looked at him directly and spoke, "Sir, the meeting starts in fifteen."

Roy groaned and slowly straightened up in his chair. "I suppose that we should head over to the conference room, Lieutenant."

She nodded and put her stack of papers into a neat pile. With the documents held close to her chest she stood and followed Roy. Before they left the room she turned to Jean. "Second Lieutenant, you're in charge of making sure some work gets done."

Jean nodded in understanding. Basically she meant that he would be the one punished if they slacked off too much while she was gone.

* * *

Riza sat beside Roy in the stuffy room full of alchemists, colonels, generals, and a few lieutenants. She was quiet for the most part, only commenting when necessary. She preferred to listen to the conversation and silently slip documents that were referred to in front of Roy in case he needed to glance over it. Out of the alchemists present only he and Louis had come across the Ishbalan and survived, and as a result they did the most talking. With Alex's skills passed down from generation to generation he made sketches of Scar, so no one was confused about his appearance. By the end of the meeting the generals present had decided each alchemist had to have a weapon, something with their specialized transmutation circles on it, a piece of chalk, and guard with them at all times. Each alchemist would be appointed two guards by the end of the day. The meeting was adjourned with the announcement. They were walking out when one of the generals called to Roy. 

"General Sierra?" Roy asked.

"Naturally, First Lieutenant Hawkeye and Second Lieutenant Havoc will be your guards. We will send someone to your office to lighten their loads of paperwork. Second Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Brosh will be tagging along with Fullmetal during his travels until we have decided otherwise. That is all. You're dismissed."

* * *

When they got back to the office it was already 1245 hours. Edward was sitting in Roy's chair fuming about the 'arrogant bastard's tardiness.' 

Riza sighed and took a seat at her desk. Jean had escaped as soon Roy and Riza had entered the office. Now she would have to stay and listen to their ritual of insults.

Roy's mouth was forming the words to a short joke, but he didn't get to speak them.

"Second Lieutenant Maria Ross and Sergeant Denny Brosh reporting for duty, Sirs," Maria said. She and Denny saluted the other three officers.

Edward stared at them for a few minutes. "Do you work for him now?"

"No we've been assigned as your protection, again," Denny explained.

"You'd better keep a close watch over him. He's so small he'd be easy to lose in a crowd," Roy told them.

"Who you callin' so short he'd be harder to find than a needle in a haystack?" Edward reacted as usual. He was ready to lunge at Roy when Alphonse jumped from his seat on the couch and held him back. Since Ed couldn't physically attack his superior he threw the report at him. "Here's your stupid report!"

Riza sent Maria and Denny a furtive glance a pity. She hoped they'd be able to keep up with the boys. Even if Ed wasn't hard to lose, it wouldn't be hard to keep track of Al. Knowing they were worse off than she was comforted her a little.

* * *

Roy glanced up at the clock and decided he deserved a break. "What sound good for lunch, Hawkeye?" 

"I brought my lunch, Sir."

Roy looked down at his paperwork, and tried to ignore his rumbling stomach. He looked up when he heard Riza's chair slide backwards. "Where are you going Lieutenant?"

"Lunch, Sir. I'm sure your hungry, and I can't leave you if Havoc isn't with you, so where are we going?"

"Why don't we go to that place around the corner, the deli," he said, also leaving his desk. She just nodded and followed him down the corridors, across the street, and stood in line behind him.

They didn't talk while they ate. Roy didn't think much of her silence. It wasn't like it was unusual for them to be silent. They didn't need a lot of words. Both found words meaningless unless followed up with the proper actions. But something felt weird—the silence wasn't comfortable. It was thick and smothering.

Riza picked at the small pieces of potato chips left in her bag—eating a few and smashing the rest under her index finger. The new assignment was nerve raking. She'd go speak with General Sierra to find out exactly what he meant by everywhere. To the bathroom, anywhere he went in HQ, to his house? She and Jean would never get a day off.

When they returned from lunch Riza explained the new assignment to Jean and left Roy under his watch.

She was glad to find the older man still in his office. "General Sierra, Sir?" Riza saluted.

"Ah, Lieutenant Hawkeye, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" Andrew returned the salute.

"Sir, I am just here to inquire about my orders."

"Yes, please take a seat and relax," he said motioning to the chair in front of his desk.

She complied with his suggestion. "When you said everywhere you-"

"I meant everywhere. If he has to take a piss you're in the same room. Break up the shifts between you and Second Lieutenant Havoc into twelve hour blocks. Is that all?" he asked.

"Yes, Sir. Thank you," she stood to leave.

"Second Lieutenant Julie Mrow has been assigned to your team temporarily to make sure paperwork doesn't get back logged. Everything should go smoothly with her there."

Riza nodded and walked back to her own office. She had heard the name before, but couldn't place it.

She entered the office only to find a woman with long black hair sitting at her desk. She cleared her throat.

The woman looked up her with ice blue eyes. "How may I help you?" she asked.

"That's my desk," Riza said coolly.

"Oh, you must be First Lieutenant Hawkeye. Colonel Mustang said you would be taking the night shifts, so I assumed that I would be able to work at your desk while he's here during the day," she said standing to let Riza sit down.

Riza bit her tongue—this woman hadn't even attempted to salute her, and made it seem like she didn't know what her job was.

Julie smirked at Riza. She wanted the blonde to lose her famed cool, and look bad in front of Roy. She desperately wanted to take Riza's place—wanted to yank it right out from under her feet.

Riza unlocked the drawers she kept her little armory in and emptied the contents into her purse. She shuffled through the other drawers and added two lighters, a few pens, envelopes, a pack of paper clips, and a bottle of white out to the purse. She was suddenly glad that she had carried the burdensome bag—it had finally fulfilled its purpose.

"What time are we trading off, Sir?" Riza asked.

"1900 hours. We'll be at my place."

"Until then, Sir," she saluted and left.

"I had no idea she was so stiff," Julie laughed.

Everyone in the office looked away from her. She frowned.

It was Roy that responded, "You should watch what you say about my subordinates Lieutenant Mrow."

Julie looked away from him as if she had been slapped. How had he come to think the blonde was so great? She had heard rumors about Riza rejecting men left and right, using her gun to make sure paperwork was done, and full out stepping out of her bounds to tell Roy what to do. _"I will take Riza Hawkeye's place, and make them see that it's better without her!"_ she told herself.

She reviewed and signed papers quietly for the rest of the day. It wasn't until they were leaving that anyone spoke to her, and even then it was only "good night" and "don't forget to turn out the lights."

At 1900 hours she gathered the piles of paperwork she had to turn in. With a glance at the clock she realized the sniper would be with him. Anger took her over as she came to the conclusion that the two of them would be spending the night together alone.

* * *

"Sir, why'd you decide without me?" Riza asked while she sat beside Roy on his couch. 

"Havoc is a great soldier, but I'd rather have you watching over me while I'm most vulnerable," Roy explained. Roy was staring at her to judge her response, but got nothing from her facial expression. She was wearing her uniform. He had already changed out of his, and found himself wishing she had too. He wanted to see her in civilian clothing, but knew she wore her uniform to remind both herself and him that she was on duty.

Riza smiled inwardly at his confidence in her. She wouldn't trust anyone else with his life either.

The night was quiet and warm—she had already discarded her jacket due to the heat. It wasn't until he ducked into the hall to grab a towel that things got awkward.

"Sir?" she called.

He gave her a stern glare.

"Roy," she corrected herself.

"Hmm?" he asked throwing the towel around his shoulders.

She looked down at the floor. "General Sierra…"

He couldn't hear the mumbled sentence. He walked up to her and placed two fingers under her chin to make her look at him. "What did General Sierra say?"

"He told me to stay in the same room as you at all times," she said more clearly. A faint blush graced the apples of her cheeks as she looked away again.

Roy was stunned. Surely he hadn't heard her properly. "That's a good one Riza," he laughed it off. Surely it was a joke.

She looked up at him with a face that was more serious than the one she had been wearing when she had asked him to destroy the sigil on her back. "It was an order," she told him before looking back away from him.

Roy's mouth opened and closed. He gulped down air. If she hadn't looked so flustered maybe he would have been able to keep his cool, and make a good joke out of it, but she was hardly keeping her composure. He was suddenly glad she wasn't looking at him, because his cheeks didn't feel their normal temperature anymore. "I…I'll just shower in the morning," he told. He took his time putting the towel away in the hall closet, so that they could both recover from what had just happened. He stopped in front of the bathroom and stared at the clear shower curtains, he made a mental not to go out and buy some that weren't see through. Really if it weren't for the clear shower curtains, and the mirrors coincidentally placed so that no matter what direction you looked you could see the whole bathroom she could just sit in there while he took a shower, or he could leave the bathroom door open and she could wait right outside the door. His mind wandered to a mental image of her peaking into the bathroom while he showered. Just the thought of her watching him gave him a thrill. He stopped and berated himself for thinking about her inappropriately. He couldn't let himself think like that, because once he accepted it he wouldn't be able to deny it.

Riza was watching him. He shivered. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

He looked up at her frozen. "No…well, yes. I will have to change, and you know, use the restroom." In his head he added, _"And take a cold shower."_

"What if I search the room, and then while you change, or do whatever you need to keep the door opened, and I'll wait outside," she suggested.

* * *

Riza looked up from her book to Roy. His breathing had finally gone into the rhythm that she knew meant he was sleep. 

At first she had just watched him—his figure barely discernable in the dark room—as he tried to fall asleep. Then, he complained that it was nerve raking to have her staring at him. She had gotten out her book and then, with his permission, turned on the lamp, so that she didn't have to strain her eyes to read. He turned away from the light and fell asleep quickly after that.

She had been surprised to find a copy of the second book in her mailbox that afternoon. It wasn't scheduled for release for two more weeks. She looked over the note. It said thank you in a hand she didn't recognize. She didn't know if she even wanted to know who it was from, but she was enjoying it so far.

She had already gotten past Elizabeth's escape from her torturers. Riza was biting her nails wondering if Elizabeth would get out of Drachma. She knew Elizabeth wouldn't just wait for Joseph to rescue her. Riza looked back up from the book when she heard her name.

She put her book down on the chair, ready to walk over to him, but she noticed his breathing pattern hadn't changed. She watched him roll over onto his side, grab one of his pillows, and clutch it to his side. She walked to his bed to better inspect his strange behavior.

She noticed the sheen of sweat plastering his bangs to his forehead. Her hand involuntarily checked his forehead for a fever. She didn't feel any excess heat on his sticky face, so she smoothed his hair back.

She opened a window to let the night breeze flitter in to cool down the room. He only mumbled into his pillow three more times that night. She tried to hear what he said, and would have if not for his sleeping companion.

The sounds of the night relaxed her as she read about Elizabeth's long journey through the Drachman wilderness. She was being tracked by bounty hunters. In her escape she had killed the Drachman leader's right hand man. There was a chance that she would face death in Armestris, so another war wouldn't break out.

Riza put the book down and opened and closed the hand she had been holding it with to get rid of the cramp that was forming. She readjusted her sitting position against the wall. She had moved to sit under the window when the sun had finally came up, but now her legs were going numb from being folded under her. That wouldn't do if someone attacked. She stretched her legs out straight in from of her. She had even taken out her hair clip, so she could lean her head back against the wall without discomfort.

The sound of the birds was getting louder by the second. She stretched her arms, and cracked her neck. Her watch read 0557 hours. She decided to wake him up. She leaned over him and shook his shoulder.

He hugged the pillow closer to his chest. She shook him again. "Roy, time to get up."

He opened his eyes and saw blonde hair casting a golden haze around her head from the sunlight shining through the window. "Riza, must be dreaming," he mumbled incoherently and made to cup her face. His eyes adjusted better to the light of the room and he realized if he was dreaming she would surely be in the bed with him. His mind reminded him that she was supposed to be guarding him, and he quickly changed the direction of his hand to reach for his alarm clock on his bedside table. He grabbed it and looked at the time.

"Mornin'," he said with a voice still hoarse with sleep. He unwrapped his other arm from around the pillow, a bit self-conscious that she had seen him clinging to it for dear life in his sleep.

"Good morning, I thought maybe I could make breakfast, but I'd need you in the main room for that."

His answer was in the form of rustling sheets. She followed him to the kitchen. He started to dig through his refrigerator, but she shooed him away. "I'm the one being paid, let me be useful."

He was about to argue with her, but she already had a carton of eggs in one hand and milk in the other. "Scrambled, right?" she asked him. Her eyes had clouded over in thought.

It took him a minute to remember she would know his preference from the years that they had lived together. He nodded and wordlessly got out a bowl and fork for her to mix the eggs and milk in while she was getting a pan.

Riza found the pan easily. He seemed to have put everything in pretty much the same order as they had been at her father's house. It was what she did at her apartment too.

He put the eggs and milk away, and got out orange juice while she cooked the eggs. He put two glasses of the juice on the table, and then set his head down to rest until she finished. He didn't have to wait long before a plate was in front of him.

Riza took a sip of the orange juice, pulp free, and smiled. She remembered the way Roy had talked about pulp—the same way Ed talked about milk—and laughed.

Roy looked at her and noticed she was staring at the drink in her hand. "I still despise pulp," he informed her.

Riza was washing the dishes, against his orders, when a knock came at the door. She looked over her shoulder to find Roy letting Jean inside. "Morning," she called to him.

Jean saluted out of habit and flopped down in a chair. "Too early," he commented. He eyed Roy's attire—obviously the clothes he had slept in—and his disheveled hair.

Roy sunk into the couch beside the chair and grunted in agreement.

"There're some eggs left Havoc," Riza called to him.

Jeans ears pricked at the mention of a free breakfast, and he left Roy to his own devices.

Riza motioned to the plate of left-over eggs as she finished drying the pan. She put away the dishes, grabbed her coat from the chair she had draped it over the night before, and made for the door. "Sir, would you bring me some of my paperwork home with you tonight?"

Roy gave her an incredulous look. "Why? Someone is taking care of it."

"It would give me something to do, to pass the night. Havoc, make sure to grab a pile of paperwork for me on the way out of the office today."

"Yes Sir," Jean said through a mouth full of eggs.

"I'll see you at 1900 hours, Sir," Riza called to Roy as she closed the door behind her.

Jean rinsed his plate and stuck it in the sink.

"So Chief, what'd you do last night?" Jean asked

Roy opened one of his eyes and glared at the blond. "What're you implying Havoc?"

"Nothing, nothing at all."

Roy was looking at him through both eyes now. "Are you two really supposed to be in the same room as me at all times, no matter what I'm doing?"

"Yeah, why?" Jean asked.

"C'mon, I've got to take a shower."

Jean grumbled about having to alchemist-sit while he waited outside the bathroom—it was going to be long month.

**:)-------(:**

A.N-I can't believe it took me so long to get this chapter out, but hey I've got a good amount here -- 13 pages. I can't remember if I've pimped out my other stories in these author notes yet so here goes: If you liek Royai I've got _Random One-Shots_ (mainly royai oneshots) and _In 100 Words_ (response to royai 100 themes) for you. If you enjoy Edwin go take a look at _100 Moments to Live For _(Edwin 100 themes responses)Okay, I'm done with the shameless self promoting here now. Oh, I'll be finished with the school semester next week, so I should be able to devote more time to this after that.

Thanks for reviewing: OblivionEclipse, Yun Min, Mirage992, Animeluuvr8, OTP, Last.Alchemist.Standing, Riza Hawkeye 9, UnheardGoodConscience, Bizzy, Your Favourite Plushie, MoonStarDutchess, WinglessFairy25, Dailenna, Breion, Anne Packrat, OneMoreBite, SmokerBabe, and BlueRose.xoxo.

The name game: General Andrew Sierra- Sierra- the last name of the only friend of mine that understands my love for FMA, because he loves the game.


	6. Mrow's Obsession

I don't own FMA, but I do own all my original characters in this story.

Thanks Dai and Bizzy you've been a great help.

**:)-------(:**

Riza stood outside his apartment and knocked on the door as best she could with a bag of groceries in one hand and Hayate's leash in the other. She knew he was already back from HQ, because she could smell the faint odor of cigarette smoke in the hall.

Jean answered the door. "You're early."

"No, I'm barely on time," she said as she made her way past Jean. She let Hayate off his leash and explained, "All of his clocks are seven minutes behind."

Jean closed the door behind her and stared curiously at the brown paper bag of groceries she held to her in the same manner she held paperwork at the office. His observation reminded him of her request. "Hawkeye, you wouldn't believe it. I had to practically pry the paperwork you wanted from Mrow's hands."

"That's odd," came her reply as she pulled various items from the bag.

"She said that she didn't mind staying late," he explained.

"There's no point in her being paid to stay late when I'm-" she stopped mid-sentence. "Where's Mustang?"

Jean smirked and pointed over his shoulder, "Took you long enough. He's asleep on he couch. He said you woke him up an hour earlier than he usually gets up. Mrow wouldn't let him nap with all her chatter."

Riza stopped unloading her ingredients for dinner and looked at the couch to find Jean was indeed telling the truth. A part of her wished she had a camera when she saw that Hayate had curled up next to Roy and gone to sleep.

Before she knew what she was saying she told Jean, "He talks in his sleep."

"I've noticed that," Jean replied, making eye contact with her.

Riza felt her cheeks heating under his knowing gaze and wanted to shoot the smirk off his face. Her true feelings never would have been so persistent in rising to the surface is she hadn't heard them talking that night. She had to settle for scowling at him. "Havoc, do you realize you've been off for twenty minutes now?"

He looked at his watch and, to her satisfaction, his smirk disappeared. "Shit, I'm supposed to pick up Schiezka in ten minutes."

Roy stirred at the sound of the door slamming shut behind Jean, but didn't wake up.

Riza cast him a glance and forced the rising thoughts of how adorable he looked with Hayate curled up next to him to the back of her mind.

She continued to empty the bag of its contents. She found a bowl sitting atop his refrigerator, rinsed it out, and filled it with apples. She put a box of teabags into the cupboard to the left of the stove. Carrots, tomatoes, chicken, lettuce, and onion went on the counter.

Hayate woke to the loud sound of rumbling in his ear. A hand weighed down his sleepy head. His tail wagged at the smell of chicken. He wiggled out from under the hand and pranced at the feet of his mistress in hopes of being given a treat.

Roy's senses slowly stirred. His first thought was of hunger, the second of the food he smelled, and the third of how much he like waking up to the sight of Riza. He didn't speak-he wanted to watch her for a moment. She started chopping an onion. He took note of the way she fought the natural tears the fumes of the onion called forth. She stopped for a moment and pressed a blue sleeve against her eyes to block out the vapors. He was beside her just as she pulled her arm away from her face.

The only evidence of her surprise at having him say he'd finish it for was the slight twitch of the knife in her hands.

"I hope you don't mind me bringing Hayate. I didn't have the time to drop him at Fuery's before I came over since the market was busier than I anticipated," she explained while she turned the chicken over in the skillet.

"I was wondering when I'd see him," Roy replied as he added half of the diced onion to the pan of chicken.

Hayate whined for some food at the new mixture of smells in the air. Roy accidentally knocked a few carrot slices onto the floor.

"Is everyone keeping busy with their work?" she asked. He laughed, and she fixed him with a stern glare.

"The first hour at the office was spent putting everything back in place. Lieutenant Mrow either stayed late last night, or came in early this morning to move everything around so the office would 'run more efficiently'," he placed air quotes around the phrase Mrow had used when explaining the new setup of the office. Riza raised a brow for him to continue. "She moved our desks together-into a rectangle-so we could all face each other. Apparently, it would make it faster to push the paperwork around like that. She said we wouldn't have to waste time walking across the office just to get the proper second signature on documents, and we wouldn't have to get up to discuss anything pertaining to the documents without shouting across the room. She even re-organized the insides of everyone's desk-pens and envelopes in the top right hand drawer and the least important items being in the bottom drawers."

"She's just trying to do her job," Riza admitted matter-of-factly. She really didn't want to do the woman any favors, but she certainly admired the efforts she put into making sure paperwork was done.

* * *

Jean came to a halt in front of Schiezka sitting on the brick wall in front of HQ engrossed in a book. "Sorry I'm late. I was talking to Riza and lost track of time," he explained. 

Schiezka flashed him a smile and finished the page she was reading. "It's okay," she said, slipping her 'Aliens Exist' bookmark into place as she closed the book.

Jean tucked the leather-bound book under his arm and gave her a hand up from the brick wall. They stopped by the dorms, so both of them could change-they got too many stares when they were in uniform-and found a familiar hamburger joint, Tom's Place. It was one of those places that served a variety of foods, but was best known for it's hamburgers.

They were seated in a booth near the corner, and were soon placing their order with a glassy-eyed, runny-nosed, scratchy-voiced waiter. Jean found it comforting that unlike most of the other women he had dated Schiezka ordered something that wasn't a salad.

"You should have seen it," Jean started out his story while they waited for their food. "She was staring at Roy and Hayate like it was the most adorable thing in the world. Then, she told me he talks in his sleep, and believe me I already know that. All I told her was I know, and she turned tomato red."

"Do you think this whole bodyguard thing is making them closer?" Schiezka asked.

"It's definitely pressing the issue," Havoc laughed. "Oh, he won't even shower while she's there. I can guarantee that there would be no problem if everything between them was completely platonic."

* * *

Julie Mrow sat at the booth behind them in civilian clothing with her back to Schiezka. She had stopped talking to her dark-skinned friend when she heard Jean's voice, and strained to listen to his conversation. She was stewing with anger by the time she heard his last sentence. How dare the blonde slut try and take her man, this called for serious actions. No one could have Roy Mustang if she couldn't. 

"What's wrong?" Shelly asked.

"Nothing," Julie answered with the shake of her head then an airy laugh, "I just realized that I need to buy some cat food for Chester before I go home."

Shelly nodded at the lie. She knew Julie-something was eating at her friend, and she planned to get to the bottom of it.

"I'm finished," Julie said, shoving the bowl of half-eaten chicken salad away from her. She snapped open her purse and sifted through it for her wallet. Her fingers touched a single key and the texture of pyrotechnic cloth. She smiled as she remembered the sulfuric smell of the white gloves.

Shelly grinned back at her friend. "Maybe we can go out for coffee or to a bar."

Julie shook her head. "No thanks, all the paperwork at the office tired me out."

Shelly shot her an incredulous glare through her sunglasses and hissed, "You know, that's just as bad as the 'I have to wash my hair' excuse." Shelly put her money for the bill down on the table.

"Maybe you should try staring at paperwork all day, it's draining," Julie defended herself.

"You had plenty of energy when you were going on about this Roy guy," Shelly accused. When Julie didn't have a rebuff ready she continued, "You know, something has changed about you, for the worse. I go through a lot just to be able to come to dinner with you every other week. Call me when you want to tell me what's wrong, otherwise find someone else to ditch." With that said Shelly left the restaurant.

"Changed?" Julie asked her self as she finally pulled her wallet out of her purse. She placed her half of the bill and a lousy tip on the table while muttering to herself, "I don't need her, she's too moody anyways."

Julie left the restaurant thankful that she had befriended Shelly some time ago. It was helpful to know an Ishbalan after all. She knew where their hideout was, and she could use that to her advantage. She smiled as the realization struck her.

Julie's cat looked at her expectantly as she dumped the bag of cat food on the floor beside the food bowl, opened it, and scooped a couple cups into the bowl.

Chester mewed with gratitude and ignored her for the remainder of the night.

Julie didn't mind the cat's mood. She wanted some time alone with Roy. She tossed her purse on her bed and pulled a shoebox out of the top of her closet. Once she was settled on her bed she opened the box and pulled out various pictures of Roy Mustang-most were from his file or the newspaper, while others were ones she had taken of him-those were often half pictures with the faces of other women cut out of them. She pulled the ignition gloves out of her purse and buried her face in them, inhaling the sulfuric scent. She stared at the red embroidery until the array was burned into her memory. Next, she took the single key out of her purse and kissed it. He hadn't even realized it was missing when he undid all of her hard work of reorganizing his desk. She drifted off to sleep with clutching the key in her hand with the pictures and gloves scattered around her on the bed.

**:)-------(:**

A.N.-I'm really sorry about the wait. I didn't know I was going to be scheduled 6 eight hour days at work on top of having to complete finals last week, and it drained me. I apologize again, and am working my hardest to get the next chapter our on Saturday night. I do everything the long way by hand writing it first, and then typing it up. I hope I've got all the spelling and grammatical errors out now.

Thanks for reviewing: OneMoreBite, SmokerBabe, Animeluvr8, OTP, BlueRose.xoxo, MoonStarDutchess, Last.Alchemist.Standing, Yun Min, Riza Hawkeye 9, Bizzy, Dailenna, WinglessFairy25, OblivionEclipse, Mirage992, UnheardGoodConscience, Your Favourite Plushie, and Anne Packrat.


	7. Bullet Wounds and Vodka

I don't own FMA, but I do own the various original characters and plot line of z story.

la la la late by almost six hours, I'm sure it will be six by the time I finish editing.

**:)-------(:**

Time passed in its regular fashion for the next week. Riza spent the night at Roy's reading her book or doing her paperwork. Roy woke up early breakfast and his morning showers. Jean spent his free time with Schiezka. What people would take note of later was Schiezka's illness. She came down with a horrible strain of the flu the day after being served by the runny-nosed, glassy-eyed, scratchy-voiced waiter. Jean didn't let that stop him for seeing her, and regularly visited her after he switched off with Riza.

Schiezka stopped trying to reason him away when he gave her information about the interactions between Roy and Riza. Once, he had walked in to find Riza doubled over in laughter from something Roy had said. Another day, while he ate his plate of scrambled eggs she had saved for him, he watched her pretending to read her newspaper while she was watching Roy play tug-of-war with Hayate. Jean didn't miss the smile that crept onto her face during the event. Sometime during the week Roy had made it a habit to help her into her coat before she left. Jean even grumbled to Schiezka about being dragged out to the market on Roy's day off—he insisted on buying a new shower curtain.

* * *

The day Schiezka returned to work Jean stepped into Roy's apartment without the usual cigarette in his mouth. He found it hard to keep in place when he was coughing every few minutes. The smell of breakfast made him turn green. Riza held her hand to his forehead and gave him a scowl. "Go home, you won't be of any use today," she told him. 

Roy held the towel in his hand a little tighter than usual. "Why's he going home?" he asked.

"He's sick, let me call HQ and find out what they want us to do." The next thing Roy heard was her question to the officer she was speaking with, "Two days, Sir?"

"Yes, it seems the assignment has caused a shortage of officers here in Central, but we'll get someone to replace him as soon as we can," the voice on the other end of the line told her.

"Thank you, Sir," Riza said and hung up.

Both Roy and Riza were suddenly glad for the red shower curtains that now hung in Roy's bathroom. Riza leaned against the wall outside his bathroom and listened to the running water of the shower. Her mind wandered to the downsides of the turn of events. One, she would have to take a shower at one point or another. Two, was her laundry. She hadn't had time to take her uniforms into the cleaners, and she was wearing her last clean one. She had planned on dropping them off when Jean replaced her, and picking them up the day after. At least Roy's days off were coming up—she wouldn't have to go in the office after today, so she could get away with wearing civilian clothing.

* * *

Kain, Heymans, Julie, and Vato were more than surprised when the smell of Jean's cigarettes didn't reach them before Roy entered the office, but they were shocked to find the blond that entered the room behind Roy was a female-was Riza. 

Riza knew the glances they sent to each other, and she proceeded to answer their question, "Havoc is out sick. Second Lieutenant Mrow will take over his paperwork while I am present." Hayate barked to emphasize her orders. Heymans willed himself to become invisible to the little creature that was sniffing at Kain's feet.

Riza waited for Julie to change desks, but she didn't move. "Second Lieutenant, my desk, please," she said pulling rank on the raven-haired officer.

Julie turned her sub-polar blue eyes on the blonde only to find a fiercer glare in the fiery eyes. She gathered her bag and some pens, and then marched over to Jean's desk in a huff.

* * *

Riza closed her book with a tired sigh—it was even better the second time around. Joseph and Elizabeth had finally reunited and made it back to Elizabeth's grandfather, but now they faced the wrath of the Armestrian government—Drachma claimed the treaty had been violated and declared war. 

Roy looked over at her when he heard the sigh escape her lips. He couldn't believe that hey hadn't sent a replacement yet. Soldiers in war even got a decent night's sleep every other day. He took a deep breath to prepare himself for trying to talk reason into her. From the way her head drooped forward and then jerked back up he wondered if her would have to try at all. "Riza?"

"Hmm," was her hummed response, like she was too tired to form actual words.

"Everyone needs some sleep at one point or another. You've been on the clock for over seventy-two hours now. I'll be awake—don't worry about me for a few hours. Besides, how could you protect me in that condition? It took you fifteen minutes to read those last two pages."

"I'm fine," she mumbled, rapidly blinking her eyes to keep them from slipping out of focus. Each blink burned her dried out eyes. Hayate nuzzled at her hands folded in her lap, as if coaxing her to listen to Roy. "They'll send someone soon," she tried reassuring herself, but the words were mumbled, and she could hardly understand herself.

"They should have sent someone the first day Havoc got sick," Roy protested.

"I'll be fine." Riza snapped, and then frowned at her outburst.

Roy held back a laugh. He'd seen many sides of Riza Hawkeye over the years, but this was the only time he could ever truly classify her mood as grumpy. He took a seat on the couch beside her. "I'm not commanding you to rest, but asking you. Consider it a request from a friend concerned about your health," he said, smiling at her—his hand itched to hold hers.

She slowly turned her heavy head in his direction He understood her inquisitive glance. "I promise I won't move from this spot, and if I hear anything suspicious I'll wake you," he said.

It only took a moment for her to fall asleep. He recognized the breathing pattern of her sleep as easily as she did his. He let her head rest on his shoulder. His flesh crawled—in a good way—at her warm breath creeping down his chest. The first time she shifted into a more comfortable position he realized she would be very sore when she work up. "I guess I'll have to move," he said to nobody in particular, maybe he had been talking to the black and white dog staring at him. Roy slowly moved away from Riza and stood from the couch. He stared at her for a second before gently picking her up in his arms and carrying her to his room.

He placed her on his bed with as much care as he would have given a newborn. Hayate curled up at her feet like usual. He licked the bottom of her boots—the only military issued apparel she was wearing—and Roy considered removing them, but knew she would need them on if anything happened.

He decided he would demand a replacement as soon as they got to the office in the morning, so Riza could go home and get a proper sleep.

* * *

If Riza had been awake she would have been able to feel the murderous intent focused on Roy's dimly-lit bedroom window. 

In a vacant apartment on the second floor of the building directly across the street a tattooed right arm pulled binoculars away from a scarred, dark-skinned face. The softer glow alerted him to the fact that at least one of the officers was asleep. He didn't mind waking either of them—one was a state alchemist, and the other had shot at him before—they were his enemies. His right arm pulsed in anticipation. "Just a few hours more," he told himself.

* * *

Riza woke at the first gentle shake he gave her shoulder. When Roy saw her eyes blink open he put a finger to his lips fro quiet and gestured for her to listen. It had been Hayate's ears pricking up that had alerted him to the soft scraping noise of the lock on his apartment door being picked. Roy wondered if he had locked the dead bolt, but the sound of footsteps in his apartment informed him that he hadn't. 

Riza whispered for Hayate to stay, and she got to her feet pulling out both of her guns from her thigh holsters. Roy's gloves looked out of place on his hands with the rest of his dressed for bed. He stood with confidence in his thin flannel pants and white t-shirt—his fingers were already forming a snap. They put their backs to the wall next to the window.

A bullet dug into Scar's left shoulder the second he stepped into the room. Despite the pain, he raised the gun in his left hand and took a shot. He didn't see where it ended up, because a wall of flame cut him off from the pair. He smiled when he didn't hear the bullet connect with drywall. He listened to their officer's voices.

"Are you okay?" Roy asked, examining the blood flowing down her boot creating a puddle on his grey carpet.

"Yeah," she reassured him through gritted teeth. "It was just a lucky shot. I don't think it got the bone." She slowly hitched up her skirt to reveal the bulge in her calf where the bullet had buried itself.

Hayate growled along with Roy. He wouldn't stand for someone hurting his mistress.

Riza fired a round of shots through the fire.

Scar was surprised by her blind accuracy and barely had the chance to duck out of the room. He knew when to retreat.

Roy and Riza were both on edge until the flames died and revealed that Scar had vanished. Hayate trotted out of the room to inspect the apartment.

"What happened Mr. Mustang?" Roy's neighbor called into the open apartment. Roy recognized the voice.

"Call a doctor," Roy shouted back.

A head poked into the room a few minutes later. "Was that the Ishbalan that was in the papers a couple weeks ago that was booking it out of the building?"

"Yes. How long until the doctor gets here Jeff?" Roy asked as he finished tying a strip of one of his shirts around her wound. He saw the way her knuckles went white from the force she was gripping the arms of the chair with.

"'Bout ten minutes," Jeff said, watching Roy slip the boot and sock off of her right foot, and then use the rest of the shirt he had torn to wipe the blood off her leg.

"Do you need anything Riza?" Roy asked. He never was one for waiting.

She shook her head, unwilling to use her voice—lest it give away the pain she was actually feeling.

She noted his gloves soaked in her blood, useless, they wouldn't be helpful if Scar came back. "New gloves, Sir," she told him, her tongue slipping back into military formalities.

Roy's face took on a look of bewilderment. Why did she want gloves? She wasn't even wearing any to begin with. He looked from her hands to her face ready to voice his question, but he followed her pointed gaze to his own hands and scowled at his own stupidity. She hadn't wanted gloves—she was telling him to get a new pair. In the Riza Hawkeye fashion, she was still thinking about work when she should have been worrying about herself. He pulled off the gloves, discarded them on the carpet, and pushed himself up off the ground.

Riza looked from the partial red handprint left on the carpet to Roy wiping his hands off on his white t-shirt. He pulled a pair of the sigil-marked gloves from the top drawer of his bedside table and tugged them on.

Roy's brain was finally catching up to the actions that needed to be taken. It seemed that her blood on his hands had slowed his thought process. Now that they were clean, he knew what else to do.

* * *

He hung up the phone just as Jeff led the doctor into the room. Roy cast a brief glance at Hayate—the dog sure had taken a liking to the coffee shop clerk. 

Riza didn't pay attention to the doctor's name. She just listened to his commentary as he removed Roy's tourniquet from her leg. Roy looked away as the wound was revealed—he really didn't enjoy looking at bullet wounds. Instead, he looked to her face. She grimaced as the doctor applied pressure around the swollen entry wound. A steady trickle of blood made its way down her leg and added to the stain on the carpet.

The doctor took a rubber strip from his bag. He wrapped it around her leg and tied it tightly just below her knee, so that the skin on the sides of it lost what little color it had.

"This should slow the blood flow. You got lucky tonight Ms. Hawkeye," the doctor said. Riza wondered when they had exchanged names. She couldn't remember his. The doctor continued when neither one explained what had happened, "The bullet seems to have barely missed the fibula and tibia. As a matter-of-fact it might just be planted in the small space between the two bones. Can you move your foot?" He watched her rotate her foot a full circle at the ankle. It was slow, but she was able to. "Good, there doesn't seem to be any damage of tendons. The bullet needs to be removed as soon as possible. I have all the proper equipment, but we need to get you on that bed first."

Roy nodded and began to remove the blankets, stripping his bed down to the layer of sheets. He blinked as Jeff handed him some towels. "What's the dog's name?" Jeff asked motioning to Hayate. Roy answered and asked what the towels were for. "To elevate her leg, and so the blood doesn't soak through the sheets to your mattress.

Roy thanked him and watched as he walked out of the room with Hayate in following behind him. Riza must have commanded the dog to stay out of the room at one point.

Riza heaved her self up from the chair with a sharp intake of breath. Roy dumped the towels on the bed and supported her with his arm wrapped around her back—his hand rested just under her left breast. His mind briefly registered how strange it felt to have her on his left side. If it had been more than a couple steps he would have picked her up. He busied himself digging through the bottom drawer of his bedside table while she got as comfortable as she could for the impromptu surgery. He let out a cry of triumph that gained him the attention of the doctor and Riza when his had met the smooth edge of a cold glass bottle. There was no way he was going to let her be sober through the operation. Hell, he didn't want to be sober.

"What's that?" Riza asked when she saw him hold up the bottle of clear liquid. The doctor shook his head in amusement and sighed. He pulled out his own bottle of clear liquid. His was a sterilizer.

"Vodka, I'll be back in just a minute," he said and left the room before she could protest.

"Is that okay for me to drink?" she asked the doctor.

"I wouldn't over do it, but it wouldn't hurt to have some. It might take your mind off the pain," he answered. He poured some of the sterilizer into a metal bowl and stuck his tools in it—one could never be too careful. Next he pulled on rubber gloves. He waited for the man to come back.

Roy entered with three glasses and poured some vodka into each one. "No thank you," the doctor said when Roy presented him with a glass.

"Not for now, for afterwards," Roy explained and downed the contents of his cup. He let it burn down his throat without the exhale of breath non-drinkers would emit at the sensation. He heard Riza make the very sound behind him, and he turned back around to fill her glass up again. She downed the second glass, by the third glass was used to the burning sensation, and her thoughts got fuzzier. Roy slipped the bottle back into its place ad set the empty glasses on the floor beneath the bed. He quickly pulled the chair up to the bed, and took her hand in his. She'd need something to take the pain out on. Riza squeezed her eyes closed as the doctor cut into her leg with the scalpel. Her leg had become semi-numb from the poor circulation the rubber tie caused, but she didn't want to see what was happening.

* * *

General Andrew Sierra entered the room as the doctor discarded the bullet into the bowl of alcohol where it fizzled. "Now, I'll just sew it up real quick, and we're done," the doctor told Roy and Riza, but he was more than sure the comment was lost on the latter. 

"What is the situation Colonel?" Andrew asked. Roy gave him a half-hearted salute and explained. Andrew tucked his cap under his arm and dug a hand into his silvered hair. "I see. We'll let her rest here until the morning, and then she'll have to take medical leave at least until the stitches come out. I'll stay here for the night. We can't have you without a guard."

* * *

"Yes, yes, have the bill sent to us. Here, take my card. You can have it sent directly to my office. Thank you for your help. We'll make sure to call you in the future. Would you like an escort home?" Andrew asked as he shook hands with the doctor. 

"No thank you, Sir. I live just down the street. Make sure she stays off her leg as much as possible until the stitches come out."

"Nonsense, Son. I've got my car here. Have the driver take you home. He's one of my subordinates. Mustang, I'm going to walk him out to my car, don't get into any trouble," Sierra said.

Roy nodded in response. While Sierra was gone Roy threw the bloodied towels into the corner of his room. He picked up the discarded blankets and covered Riza with a light one. She closed her glassed over eyes and tried to thank him. He shushed her and told her to sleep. She complied with his request and let herself fall into a semi-drunk sleep.

After changing into a clean shirt, Roy left the room and found Jeff sitting on the couch. "Thanks for keeping Hayate occupied and everything else. If you ever need anything don't hesitate to come by," Roy told him.

"Is she okay?" Jeff asked.

"She will be, she's asleep now. Did you hear that Hayate, she's okay," he said looking down at the anxious ball of fur.

Hayate licked Roy's bare feet and scampered down the hall to his mistress. Jeff shook Roy's hand and left. Roy waited for Sierra to get back, and then went back to his seat beside his bed. Sierra brought another chair into the room, and the book he found on the couch. His wife had read the first one, and then she made him read it. He didn't know the second volume was out. He turned to the first page, watching Roy fall asleep slumped over on the bed over the top of the book.

**:)-------(:**

A.N.-Gah, done!! So, I sat outside in the sun for less than an hour-with sunblock on-and my right arm is now red from my elbow up to my shoulder. Okay on to info about this chapter. I didn't feel like naming the doctor-so I conveniently made Riza not remember his name. Uhm, when typing out the chapter I was really conscious of showing and not telling, so if I've told too much insteading of showing let me know. That's probably the second most important thing I have taken from my creative writing class. Things will really start moving on from this point. Oh, by the way WinglessFairy25 pointed out to me that I had Julie Mrow as a non-comissioned officer-but I've changed her into a Second Liuetenant. And, I know flu's don't usually contain symptoms of coughing/runny nose, but lets just say thiw was an unusual strain of the flu.

Thanks for reviewing: Dailenna, Jennlyn78, Bizzy. UnheardGoodConscience, Your Favorite Plushie, Yun Min, WinglessFairy25, OTP, AAR, Animeluvr8, OneMoreBite, SmokerBabe, BlueRose.xoxo, MoonStarDutchess, Last.Alchemist.Standing, RizaHawkeye9, OblivionEclipse, Mirage992, Breion, Anne Packrat.


	8. The Pen Isn't Mightier

I don't own FMA, but I do own the various original characters and story line.**  
**

**:)-------(:**

Kain, Heymans, Vato, and Julie snapped to attention and saluted Andrew as he escorted Roy into the office.

Heymans took note of the gloom that seemed to emanate from his superior officer.

"Good morning Sirs," Andrew boomed in a very Alex-esque manner. Everyone, except Roy, retuned the greeting. "Second Lieutenant Mrow, you will take First Lieutenant Hawkeye's shift. You will start every day at 1900 hours and end the next morning when I send over a replacement, at least until Second Lieutenant Havoc returns then you two will switch off. You will return to your usual shift when First Lieutenant Hawkeye has medical clearance to return."

"Yes Sir," Julie said with a sparkle in her eyes. Scar must have used her information-she knew he did. One obstacle was out of her way. She was a bit saddened that he hadn't killed her.

The three men were staring at Andrew with intense curiosity. Sierra turned to Kain and whistled. "Sergeant Fuery, you've been appointed the task of taking care of First Lieutenant Hawkeye's dog."

Hayate ambled over to his temporary master with his head hung low—his mistress needed him. A strange familiar scent had been in her apartment, but they had stopped him from investigating. He didn't like this man giving orders, he separated them.

* * *

Riza made a pot of tea and hobbled to her bed with a mug in her hand. She wouldn't have believed she had downed three glasses of vodka the night before if not for the headache that accompanied the throbbing in her leg. All she wanted to do was a quite sleep. As she lay down in her bed she decided that letting them take Hayate might have been a bad idea—at least her would have kept her company. She finished her tea, set the mug on her bedside table, and rested her head on a pillow. It took about an hour, but eventually she found the sleep she wanted.

* * *

Ken sat in the café re-reading his final manuscript for the third book. Jeff finished wiping down the tables. Afternoons were always slow. He took a seat across from Ken. "You main character was attacked last night." 

"What?" Ken asked surprised at the news.

"You've read about that Scar guy, right? You know, the Ishbalan with a vendetta against all state alchemists." Ken nodded. "He attacked the Flame Alchemist last night, but his lieutenant is the one who got hurt. I saw the copy of the second book you gave her in his apartment," he stopped when Ken gave him a bewildered look. "I live two apartments down from him, heard the commotion, saw the man leaving, and called the doctor to Mustang's apartment."

"So, what happened?" Ken asked, all thoughts of his manuscript gone.

"She took a bullet to the leg. Doctor ordered her to a week of bed rest. Maybe you should drop that third one at her place. She's the type to go insane from lack of activity," Jeff finished with a nod towards the manuscript on the table.

* * *

Scar sat crouched in the tub rimmed with deep eggplant colored shower curtains. His limbs were stiff and his left shoulder hurt like hell. He hadn't heard anything since she walked sown the hall to her room hours ago. He slowly pulled the shower curtain aside wincing at the slight scraping noise the plastic rings made against the metal pole they were fastened round. He listened for her to come down the hall, but all he heard was silence. He crept into the hall and took a right to the main room of the apartment. It was just like the one he had been in the night before, but smaller. His eyes fell on the tea kettle atop the stove. He'd use the drug the infuriating woman had given him. When the raven-haired beauty had threatened to turn in his people if they didn't let her see him he'd hated her, but he was slowly starting to trust her. She hadn't betrayed their location, not like they'd stayed in the same spot afterwards. She's even given him a key to Mustang's apartment, and supplied him with a gun. He pulled a flask out of his coat pocket-a chemical compound she had supplied him with. She told him the military used it to drug their suspects during under-cover missions. He preferred using the arm God had seen fit to give him to win his battles, but the bullet buried in his left shoulder convinced him to add some to the stepped tea. He was putting the flask back into his coat pocket when a shout from the next apartment over startled him into dropping it. He fumbled with the canister until is finally clanked to the tiled floor.

* * *

Riza woke to a clattering sound in her kitchen. She jumped out of bed only to have her right leg crumple under her in pain. She slowly stood back up, put a minimal amount of weight on her right leg, and proceeded to hobble out of her room with one gun in hand, another in her thigh holster, and a third tucked into the back of her pants. Her view from the hall showed no one in the main room or kitchen, but someone could easily be lying in wait along one of the walls.

* * *

Scar pushed himself as flat as he could against the wall, waiting for her to emerge. The gun slowly poked into the room first. He took his change and kicked it out of her hands. The gun went flying and hit wall opposite him with a thud. Her gun was quickly replaced with another. This one was pointed at him, and the blonde was staring at him through narrowed eyes. His shock at her eye color did not show in his actions. His right hand was quick to grasp the barrel of the gun. He deconstructed it without a second thought. He was glad for the shouting match that was going on in the apartment next to her. The mini-explosion in her hand made her stumble backwards into the wall, but she didn't forget about her last gun. She dug it into his gut as he pinned her against the wall with his weight.

"Do you really think that piece of metal scares me?" he asked her.

"I could kill you in an instant," she said, pressing the gun harder against him.

"Yet you've hesitated, why? Is it because your eyes? Your skin is as pale as all the other officers you work with, but where did you get those eyes? Whose relatives did you kill during the war-your mother's or your father's?" Scar spit in her face at the question. She was worse then state alchemists. He stomped his foot on her wound.

Riza held back her scream of anguish-both mental and physical-but her grip on the gun slackened. She kept her face neutral to the sound of the metal pistol hitting her tiled floor, but she knew her hope of escaping him was gone. The only thing she could do now was convince him to keep her alive.

"Leverage," she gasped as his hand made its way towards her face. "You can use me as leverage—bait. Dead I will be of no use to you. Keep me alive and the Flame Alchemist will play right into your hands," she said when his hand paused inches from her face. "You could even get Fullmetal and Strongarm if you play your cards the right way," she grunted through gritted teeth.

His hand got closer—she could make out every wrinkle on his leathery palm. No, she wouldn't let herself become a black splash of blood on her apartment wall. She scolded herself into thinking. _'What else can I say? He seemed interested in my so called Ishbalan blood—am I Ishbalan? Back to the plan—Ishbalan, yes that's it, play on his desires.' _"I want revenge on this country. They made me kill my own people, let me help you," she pleaded.

Scar considered what she said, and her earlier proposal. "Don't think I am going to let you know how to escape. Drink this," he said and shoved the flask into her hands. All the while he kept his right arm on her side and foot on her wound. He didn't bother warning her about the deadly effect the concoction could have if she drank too much.

Riza's eyes widened as she caught the sweet, familiar scent of the liquid drug. It was only used on the most important field missions, because it could be used to make a suspect unconscious, but the proper amount could kill the person who consumed it. No one under the rank of second lieutenant knew about it. Someone was already working with him. She had to find out, but not now. Now, she had to follow his directions. She took a small sip, gagging on the sickly sweet taste of it. It would take approximately three minutes before she passed out, without warning. That was why the military loved the drug the named the inhibitor. The suspect would have no clue that they had been drugged until they woke up in custody five to ten hours later—depending on their consumption and body weight. Her eyes traveled to the window above her sink—the small part in the curtains showed her the dark night sky.

* * *

Ken Pierce was about to knock on the door of her apartment when he heard a loud bang that was drowned out by the screaming coming from the apartment beside hers. He pushed his ear up against the door, hoping no one would walk into the hall and see him. He heard something hitting a wall, and then something falling, a man's deep voice, and a woman's jagged one, but the words were muffled. 

After a few minutes of silence he heard a grunt and footsteps coming towards the door. He ran down the hall to another hall leading to more apartments, and he watched from the shadowed corner. A man with a bloodstained left shoulder carried the blonde over his shoulder.

Ken felt relieved when the man went the other way to the back exit of the building. Ken silently cursed who ever it was that came up with the saying 'The pen is mightier than the sword.' Hell, he didn't need a sword—he needed a gun and a troop of military officers. Instead he had to settle for following the man and hoping he wasn't discovered.

**:)-------(:**

A.N.-I keep forgetting to mention when this takes place in FMA. It happens after Roy's battle with Scar-in which Riza calls him useless. That happens in both anime and manga. It takes place after those incidents, Lab5 has happened, which is why Maria and Denny know what it's like to babysit Ed and Al. Uhm, I'm kind of going off the theory that Riza has Ishbalan blood. Okay The pen is mightier than the sword according to Trivia-Library was coined by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, a play-wright. Thanks for reading!

Thank you for reviewing: Paca, AnimeLuvr8, UnheardGoodConscience, WinglessFairy25, Dailenna, OTP, Riza Hawkeye 9, Jennlyn78, Your Favorite Plushie, Bizzy, Yun Min, MoonStarDutchess, AAR, OneMoreBite, SmokerBabe, BlueRose.xoxo, Last.Alchemist.Standing, OblivionEclipse, Mirage992, and Anne Packrat.


	9. Rules and Reflections

I don't own FMA.

However, Sierra, Shelly, Ken, Jeff, Jill, Joseph, Elizabeth, Charlotte, and Julie are all my creations along with the plot.

**:)-------(:**

Roy rummaged through his refrigerator trying to find something decent to make dinner. He vaguely wondered why he'd let himself become so dependent on Riza for meals.

Julie took the time to meander around the apartment. She stopped and stared at the framed photograph of him sitting in an unfamiliar office with his subordinates standing behind him. Julie imagined her self standing where the woman she detested stood. In the photograph in her mind her hand was on his right shoulder and a ring sparkled in the light of the flash. She looked over at Roy and quickly slipped the photo into her oversized bag.

She smiled at him when he cleared his throat for her attention a few minutes later. "Well, it seems I don't have anything edible here. I hope you don't mind going out."

"Not at all," she gushed and pulled open his apartment door. Roy put on a light coat and followed her out. He was attempting to lock the door with his keys when he remembered Sierra had a locksmith change it while he was at HQ. He explained the situation to Julie and dug the new set of keys out of his pocket.

* * *

Schiezka sat in Jean's dorm wondering how to tell him Riza had been injured. Actually, it wasn't a matter of how, but when. With Jean grumbling about not being able to do anything she hadn't gotten anything in but a hello. She took his conversational attitude as good sign. He'd seen the doctor and been informed that he could return to work in the morning. 

When he mentioned that he couldn't wait to have a free breakfast again she interrupted him, "Uh, Jean?" He stopped talking. "Kain told me Scar broke into Roy's apartment last night. They're fine-it's just Riza's been put on medical leave now. She took a bullet in her leg. She'll be out for a week or two."

Jean clenched and unclenched his fists a few times before saying, "Roy's gonna kill that guy."

* * *

"I can't take it anymore!" Ed shouted, throwing up his arms as he walked out of the bathroom with Denny behind him. He stopped and spun around to face his 'shadow.' "We're going back to Central HQ, and I'll convince them I don't need a bodyguard. Ed led them to the nearest train station and booked the train that left in an hour. They would be back at Central mid-morning.

* * *

People might have mistaken them for a couple if not for the disgruntled look on his face. 

"It's so lovely out tonight. It would be such a waste to go home. Let's go for a walk in the park," Julie said looking up at him with pleading eyes.

Roy sighed and let her steer him away from the path to his apartment. He hated the way she kept looking at him like he was her date. That's how she was treating the assignment—like a date. She hadn't even shown up in her uniform, and on top of that she hadn't even gone for her wallet to pretend like she was going to pay for her half of the bill. Not that he would have made her since he could get reimbursed by the military, but Riza would have argued until after he'd paid the bill.

Back at his apartment he fumbled for the proper door key again. Once inside his apartment he took his old key and chucked it into the nearest trash bin. He quickly went through the usual night motions-got his drawstring flannel pants, shirt, to the bathroom, pull aside red shower curtains to make sure no on was hiding there, brushed his teeth, and started to pull his shirt off. Until he saw Julie perched on the toilet from the mirror he was looking in. "I'm going to change now," he told her and glanced to the open bathroom door.

"Okay," she replied.

Roy waited for her to exit the room, but she didn't move. "You can wait out there." He pointed to the hall.

"I'm supposed to stay with in the same room as you at all times."

"I know, but-"

"No exceptions. Sorry, those are my orders," she said with no remorse apparent on her face.

"Well, Hawkeye and Havoc both stood outside the room while I changed," he said, pointing to the hall again. "You could just close your eyes, but then someone could sneak up on you, so why don't you just go out there for a minute."

Julie crossed her arms, got up, and stood against the wall next to the bathroom. She'd never imagined her would actually be shy. She took a make-up mirror out of her pocket and used it to peek into the bathroom while he changed.

* * *

"Hold it a minute, will ya?" Jeff hollered to the person pounding on his door. He tied his robe closed and stuck his eye to the peep hole. 

"What took you so long?" Ken asked when light finally spilled into the hallway.

"You do realize it's four in the morning, right?"

"I had no idea," Ken replied flatly as he barged into Jeff's apartment.

"What happened to you?" Jeff asked as he finally noticed his friend's appearance.

"The sewers are pretty grimy," Ken answered.

"Sewers? What happened?"

"Well, I took your advice to drop a copy of my final manuscripts at her place, but instead of that I got to see her carried away by that man that shot her. I didn't try to take the hulk on, but I followed him," Ken paused to measure Jeff's reaction—a bit of shock and confusion. Jeff impatiently waved his hand for Ken to continue. "There's a city buried under the outskirts of Central, an abandoned city—that's where he took her. I have to tell Roy Mustang."

"Why didn't you just go report it?" Jeff asked.

"Because I'm not sure they'll believe me—I hardly believe me—and all I have to do is take him to her apartment and he'll believe me."

"So why are you here?"

"Which apartment is his?" Ken asked.

* * *

Julie jumped and knocked her head against the top shelf of the refrigerator when a knock sounded on Roy's door. She stuck the small glass bottle back in her coat pocket and made her way to the door, hoping Roy wouldn't wake up. She relaxed the grip on her gun when she saw it wasn't Scar. 

"How may I help you?" she asked as she opened the door a sliver.

"I need to speak to Roy Mustang. It's urgent," Ken told her.

"I'm afraid I can't authorize anyone that unless you are military personnel. Besides, he's asleep," she said as she closed the door on him. Something ignored the nagging in the back of her mind. She didn't recognize the man she has been talking with Maria and the other women about two weeks ago as the man that had just been standing in front of her covered in dirt. She walked back down the hall to Roy's room and lay down on the bed next to him.

* * *

Riza woke up with a pounding head ache. It took her eyes a few minutes to adjust to the pitch black room. She was sure her pupils were completely dilated by the time she was able to make out a small room with a chest at the end of the bed she was sitting on. 

She tried to move a hand to message her sore neck, but it never seemed to reach its destination. Her hazy mind sent the signal to her hands again and at the slight movement of her arm something dug into her wrists and waist. She snorted as she fully woke and realized not only were her hands bound, but he'd also tied her midsection to the bars that made up the head board of the bed. Her snort turned into a cough. She took deep breaths through her nose to calm her coughs and thought back to the booklet she'd been given to read about the drug before she took her first mission as a second lieutenant.

_When the suspect awakens he or she will need something to drink. This will give you the opportunity to drug the suspect again if need be. This happens because the inhibitor dehydrates the body. Often the after effect will be a dry mouth, coughing, a bloody nose, or vertigo. _

Riza continued breathing through her nose until she no longer felt the tickle of a cough in the back of her throat. She started at the knots around her wrists. "Who does he think I am? Some poor country girl?" she asked herself while she strategized an escape, all the while she was slightly distracted by how weak she had been when Scar had threatened her life, but she needed to know his plan so he wouldn't be able to get to Roy.

* * *

Roy woke up sweating and coughing. "Something…drink," he spluttered. 

Jean gave his ailing commanding officer a glass of tea from the tray Julie had brought into the room before she left hours ago.

"What's going on?" Roy asked after he took a drink.

"Mrow called the office saying you've got what I had, and from your sweating and coughing I'd say that's true. You'll be out of work for a while. We're still-" Jean trailed off when Roy's eyelids began to drop. "Chief?" he called, but Roy was asleep again. Jean sighed and sat down on the plump brown chair. His gaze wandered over to the bedside table the tray of drinks sat on along with a book. His eyes shot back to the royal blue cover. He picked it up and flipped open to the first page.

* * *

An apparition of Riza appeared to Roy in his deep slumber. She was wearing the same black, ankle length skirt and deep purple blouse as the day before. She stood across the room from him with a look of disappointment on her face as she stared at his hands. He looked down and found himself holding a gun. When he glanced back up at her he saw that her blouse was quickly taking on a different hue and a line of red liquid escaped from her pale lips. He didn't hear the gun clatter to the floor over her raged breaths. 

He caught her as her knees buckled. "This is a dream. This is a dream," he repeated to her over and over as he held her close. He closed his eyes to keep the hot tears from falling, but found he couldn't open them back up. As much as he tried to get his eyelids to lift they only got heavier. His dream vanished with Riza's name on his lips.

* * *

Jean moved his eyes from the book to his tossing commanding officer. He smirked and shook his head when he heard Riza's name.

* * *

Anyone who didn't recognize the blond alchemist stomping through the halls would have wondered why the crowd of officers quickly parted for him, but those unlucky enough to have seen him when his temper was at it peak (which was just about every time he left Roy's office) didn't hesitate in their actions. A few soldiers even pulled others out of the way. Denny's and Maria's feet worked double time to keep up with Ed's short, but quick, determined stride. 

Andrew looked up at the boy who slammed the door shut behind his entourage of two officers and a suit of armor.

"Ah, Fullmetal, have a seat. Brosh, Ross, and Alphonse, is it? Have a seat." He looked Ed square in the eyes. "What brings you to my office?"

"Two alchemists don't need a bodyguard," Ed huffed.

"They don't?" Sierra asked, looking taken aback.

"No, we can protect ourselves," Ed replied.

"That gives me an idea. Fullmetal have you heard about what happened to First Lieutenant Hawkeye.

"No," Ed said and crossed his arms.

Andrew went on to explain about the encounter with Scar. "So if you think the two of you can protect yourselves then I'm sure the two of you wouldn't mind watching Colonel Mustang. Brosh and Ross will escort you to his apartment at 1830 hours. You're free to do as you wish until then. Ross, Brosh you two have some paperwork to fill out."

Ed was surprised by the news about Riza. He didn't complain until after they left his office. He didn't want to be stuck in the same building.

* * *

Julie let out a growl of frustration as she hung up her phone. She had planned it out perfectly and that damned pint-sized alchemist had to go and ruin it. 

She pulled the framed photograph out of her purse and gingerly took it out of the frame. Soon her scissors were cutting out the blonde sharpshooter from the picture. A couple minutes later she had a picture of herself lined up almost perfectly and taped it into place. She smiled and placed the doctored photo in her box with the others.

* * *

"You have to tell someone," Jeff reasoned as he poured his friend another cup of tea. 

"I know, I know. When I stopped by the military headquarters I found out a friend of mine returns today. I left a message for her to meet me here," Ken said as he made his hair into more of a mess than it already was.

* * *

Denny looked disdainfully at the note Maria held. "Are you going to go meet him?" 

Maria glowered at him. "Do you think I'll abandon my post for him?" she asked as she looked at her pile of paperwork.

"No," Denny said sheepishly, but his real question wasn't answered. He wanted to know if she'd go see him if she didn't have to work. His heart sank as he heard her next words.

"I'll give him a call after we escort Ed and Al to Mustang's place," she said, looking up from the form she had to fill out for her travel expenses with the Elrics.

People may say she was oblivious, but they were wrong. She knew he liked her. Why else would anyone want to hang out with a woman that could literally beat them to a bloody pulp? Sure, Jean, Kain, Heymans, and Vato were her friends, but they didn't eat lunch with her every day, volunteer as her sparring partner when Riza was off or on a mission, or go to book signings with her just because she thought the author was a great writer and wanted to meet him. She just decided to take the same route she figured Riza took with Roy—ignore the tension and any other signs that he liked her.

Schiezka's revelation about the new rules and regulations handbook was a surprise to her, but the copy sitting in her inbox confirmed the information.

She looked back at the note from Ken and smiled. She'd have to thank him when she saw him. Competition had definitely given Denny more initiative to try winning her over. Maybe next time she'd let him. Her smile grew as she looked over at him. His expression slowly began to reflect hers.

**:)-------(:**

A.N.-You know, I hate shower curtains. I'm so happy my shower had sliding, clouded glass door. That way no one can hide in there. I went to a friends house to watch movies once, and his younger brother retreated into the bathtub to read. He'd even pulled the shower curtains closed, so no one would disturb him. When I got up to go use the restroom I made sure to pull back the shower cutrain when I entered the bathroom(we were watching a movie that freaked me out a bit), and I nearly ended up having a heart attack when he was in there. Anyways I decided to end this chapter on a slightly fluffy note. I really hope to have this finished on my next day off of work, becuse my goal had been to have it done by Royai Day, and when that didn't happen I stopped my progress and made two Royai Day fics. I really need to give Sierra a first name, since I'm using everyone elses. I shall dub him Andrew-so I'll go back through and make the proper changes when I post the next chapter. Julie is really freaking me out, did I really write her? This story is almost 80 pages now. Thanks for reading.

Thanks for reviewing: Dancing Nightmare, OneMoreBite, WinglessFairy25, Riza Hakeye 9, Yun Min, Dailenna, Jennlyn78, Bizzy, MoonStarDutchess, BlueRose.xoxo, Last.Alchemist.Standing., UnheardGoodConscience, Your Favorite Plushie, AnimeLuvr8, OTP, AAR, SmokerBabe, OblivionEclipse, Paca, Mirage992, Breion, and Anne Packrat.


	10. Explanations and Lockets

**I don't own FMA**

**:)-------(:**

Maria could have sworn Ed was walking to his death. His face had a grim expression drawn across it, his feet dragged more with every step, and his shoulders were slumped in defeat. She watched Denny following behind the painfully slow pair while she waited patiently for them to walk up to the hall leading to Roy's apartment.

"If you need anything call, okay?" Maria commanded as she walked into the apartment building ahead of Ed, Al, and Denny.

She could hear the nodding of Al's helmet, and knew Ed was scowling—he never wanted anyone to think he needed help.

"I'm not going in there a minute before 1900 hours," Ed grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"That's fine, we don't mind waiting," Denny replied, earning himself a scowl in his direction. Maria knocked on the door marked 1A.

Jean answered with a book in his hand. "Are all of you taking over?" he asked looking a little confused.

"No, just the Elrics," Maria replied.

"Oh, well, I've still got about ten minutes, and I'm only allowed to leave him alone when I answer the door," Jean said and left the door open for them to enter.

Maria and Denny stood behind Ed and Al waiting. "You heard him—ten more minutes!" Ed explained.

"Don't be an idiot, Brother," Al said, and, much to Ed's displeasure, shoved him through the threshold. Before Ed could escape back into the hall Al closed the door with a thank you directed to Maria and Denny.

Al ventured down the hall while Ed sulked on the couch claiming he wouldn't go into that room until he had to.

Jean was soon sitting next to him. "He's pretty much just sleeping. I didn't sleep that much when I was sick, but I guess different people react differently."

"Great, now he's going to get me sick," Ed complained, throwing his arms into the air in frustration. He let himself sink further into the couch.

Jean looked at his watch, grabbed his water bottle, and left the fuming alchemist alone in the main room.

* * *

Maria had been about to leave when someone called her name. She looked at the entrance of the apartments and saw a man with red hair approaching. "Ken?" she asked. 

A smile broke out across his face, and Denny groaned in his place at her side. "Sorry I didn't make it earlier, but I just got off," she explained while he shook her hand.

"Do you live here?" he asked.

"No, you?"

"No, I'm visiting a friend of mine. Would you mind if I took a couple minutes of your time?" he asked. "You're welcome to join us," he said extending his hand to Denny.

Denny used his most forceful grip as they shook hands, and was pleased to see the writer quickly pull out of the handshake. He didn't hesitate to tag along with them, and he followed Ken's lead to an apartment marked 3A.

"Who're they?" a man with long brown hair tied into a ponytail asked.

"This is the beautiful Maria Ross and her er—"

"Denny Brosh," Denny supplied, pretending not to hear Ken's remark about Maria. He studied the man and tried to place the familiar face, but he couldn't remember where he had seen it before.

"So, this is who you were going to tell?" Jeff mumbled.

"Tell? Tell what?" Denny panicked.

"Why don't both of you take a seat. I'll explain from the beginning," Ken told them, and pulled out a chair at the table for Maria to sit in. Jeff took up his habit of providing everyone with something to drink, and took the remaining seat at the round table.

"Remember what I told you at the books signing about the characters?" Ken asked. When she nodded he explained about everything. Riza and Roy being Elizabeth and Joseph, dropping the books off for Riza, and Scar abducting her.

* * *

Ed sifted through the drawers of Roy's desk and grinned in triumph at the set of indelible markers he found. He stuck the flimsy box in his coat pocket and made his way to the bathroom. He let out a cry of joy at the tin of shaving cream, package of dental floss, and tube of toothpaste. 

He entered his sleeping commander's room with an evil glint sparkling in his eyes. "This will be fun," He told his brother as he started to pull the collected items from his pockets.

Al tried to dissuade him, "Brother, I don't think that's a good idea. What if he wakes up?"

"Havoc said he's sleeping like a rock," Ed informed Al. He then demonstrated. First, he shook Roy's shoulder. Then, he clapped loudly inches above the man's face. For his final test, he shook the entire bed, but the sleeping man did not stir. " If I have to be here, I might as well get some entertainment out of it," Ed defended his ideas.

Al watched Ed empty the pack of markers onto the bedside table. Ed picked up a dark green capped one and carefully drew lines extending out from Roy's nose. Then, he picked up the black marker and began to color Roy's entire nose. Ed laughed at Roy's attempts to shoo away what was tickling his nose while he slept. Ed snickered--the final stage of his plan would work. Ed discarded the black pen and picked up a red one. He used it to write out the word 'useless' in big capital letters on Roy's forehead. Underneath that he used a blue pen to write 'in the rain' in print so small one would have to use a magnifying glass to read it.

"Al, I'm going to need a little bit of this," Ed said snipping of an inch of the length of horse hair hanging off Al's helm. Ed sat the hairs on the bedside table and after a simple transmutation had a paintbrush. Ed squeezed some of the toothpaste into an empty cup and began to dab it onto Roy's face.

"Brother!" Al protested.

"And you say I'm a heavy sleeper. He'll wash this off and freak out when he sees the marker," Ed cackled.

After ten minutes of dodging Roy's hand and painting Ed stood back to survey his work--a blue faced Roy Mustang. Al walked out of the room. "Where're you going?" Ed called.

"I don't want to be in here when he wakes up," Al explained.

Ed grinned maniacally as he dumped a generous amount of shaving cream onto each of Roy's hands. Then he took a piece of floss and slid it across Roy's nose. The man's nose twitched. Ed repeated the action. The man's nose twitched again. Ed repeated the action a third time. Roy's hand flew up to shoo away his source of annoyance. Ed laughed silently. After a minute or two of unstoppable laughter tears began to form in his eyes.

Al peeked back into the room. "He's not going to wake up." Ed commented as he walked past Al down the hallway. "I need something to drink, I'll be back."

Ed stuck his head in the fridge. Tea, no he didn't want tea. Milk—gross—he was tempted to dump it down the sink, but decided to let the bastard drink his cow secretion. His gloved hand wrapped around the carton of orange juice—pulp free—perfect. He took a swig from the carton and put it back in place.

He joined Al back in Roy's room where he informed Al that the jerk at least got one thing right with the pulp free orange juice. He took his discarded piece of floss back up in his hand.

Al panicked when Ed suddenly slumped over, still clutching the string of floss, and face-planted into a pile of the shaving cream.

Al quickly cleaned Ed's face. With his metal body he couldn't feel for a pulse, but he did put a metal finger beneath his brother's nose and sighed in relief when the clean metal fogged up from Ed's breaths.

* * *

"I got back early that morning, but the woman that was there said I couldn't talk to him, and I tried to contact you as soon as I could," Ken finished his rendition of the events of the past twenty-four hours. 

"I have to call General Sierra," Maria said as she shot up from her seat—her eyes had already spotted the telephone in the corner of the room.

"General Sierra, please," she said as she finally got through the proper security codes to an operator.

"He's not in? Please direct me to the next in command. A sergeant, where is everyone else? Yes, please connect me with him. Thank you. This is Second Lieutenant Maria Ross. Yes. At Mustang's? Yes, thank you, I'll be there." Maria put the phone on its hook and, and she left Jeff's apartment without a word to her companions.

Denny, Ken and Jeff followed her to Roy's apartment. The door was opened before she had a chance to knock.

"Miss Ross, I don't know what happened—one minute Brother was uh, fine, and then he just collapsed. General Sierra is on his way. He said a doctor is coming with him," Al explained as the group charged into the apartment.

"Al, what was the last thing Ed did?" Maria asked as she led the way down the hall to Roy's room.

Al gave a nervous laugh. "Well, he was, uh, playing a prank or Colonel Mustang—I think something is wrong with him too."

Maria spotted Roy just as Al finished talking and turned around to him. "Alphonse Elric, what did you two do? Nevermind, what else did Ed do after we left you here?"

"Nothing, wait he had something to drink. Uhm, orange juice," Al recalled. Maria was watching him, she was sure that if he was in his real body his face would have gone through a complex series of expression changes as he thought about what he next said, "He's been poisoned hasn't he?"

"I can't say for sure, but he just collapsed, no odd behavior before hand? The doctor might be able to find out," She addressed Al and then turned to the group behind her. "Don't drink anything here." Maria looked over at Denny—she contemplated telling him about the drug, but she couldn't say anything in front of civilians, especially a writer.

"Is there anything strange about his sleep?" Denny asked.

"No, you know he's a heavy sleeper, but isn't Colonel Mustang easily wakened? Ed colored on him, and painted his face with toothpaste—" Al stopped when he noticed the stares directed at him. "What?" Brother can't stand him!"

A knock interrupted the silence that lurked after Al's outburst. "I'll just go get that," Denny said, backing out of the room.

* * *

Julie couldn't stand it—she had to make sure Riza was out of the picture. She looked at the only framed picture she had in her apartment. A woman with raven-black hair and inky eyes stood next to a man with peppered hair and blue eyes. "You were right Mom, it's the only way to keep them." She searched through a pile of papers while she thought about her father's unfaithful ways. She remembered waiting in her mother's car while her mother rushed into the blond woman's apartment. The next day her father had been devastated, and he'd confessed his trespasses. Julie remembered listening to her father beg for forgiveness as she stood outside their bedroom door. Her mother forgave him, and kept him in line until he passed away. Julie let go of the memory as she folded the document with Riza's address into a neat square and shoved it into her pocket. 

She stuck to the shadowed streets as she made her way to the address she had recorded from the personal files. She didn't notice the dark-skinned woman pursuing her in the darker shadows.

Julie was surprised to find hte apartment unlocked, and, after a quick search, unoccupied. What made her smile were the two pistols sitting on the floor along with a familiar pair of sunglasses. She locked the apartment as she left in search of Scar. Her first destination was the Ishbalan hiding grounds—an old abandoned warehouse on the other side of Central.

Shelly withdrew from the shadows and followed her estranged friend. She gripped the handgun in her pocket as she entered the warehouse minutes after Julie.

* * *

Kain picked up his pace to keep himself from being dragged by the small black and white dog attached to the leash he held. "Heel. Heel Hayate, heel," Kain commanded, but the usually obedient dog didn't comply. Instead, the dog strained even harder against the leash and lead Kain through the park to the other side of it and down a familiar street. They passed an open air market when Kain realized where they were headed—Riza's apartment. "Oh, your worried about your mommy," Kain said. Hayate stopped, turned around to look at Kain, wagged his tail, barked in respeonse, and then continued on his way. 

Kain knocked on the door again with a puzzled look on his face. When she didn't answer he went to the next apartment over—the one he didn't hear arguing coming from.

"Hello," a soft voice answered his knock.

"Hello Miss, do you know if Riza Hawkeye is out?" Kain asked while Hayate pranced at his neighbor's feet.

"Of course she isn't, young man. She's injured—couldn't even go out for her own groceries if she wanted to. I got a weeks worth of shopping done for her yesterday," the old woman replied as she bent down to rub Hayate behind his left ear. "What's your name, young man?"

"Kain Fuery, Miss," he stated, almost slipping into a salute at the commanding tone her voice held. "I'm taking care of Black Hayate while she's out of commission. I came by to visit, and she isn't answering her door. That's not like her. I'm worried," He admitted.

"Kain, huh?" she paused as if recalling a long forgotten event. "Oh, yes the wire technician. You gave her the ball of fur. Wait here a minute," she said as she straightened up. Kain nodded, and a few seconds later she let him in to Riza's apartment.

His eyes caught two guns lying on the ground, and some sort of debris on the wooden floor. He took it as a bad sign. He called her name as he walked down the hallway, but got no reply. Hayate jumped up, putting his forepaws on Kain's legs. He led Kain to the bathroom. The young man wearily pulled aside the eggplant colored shower curtains. Flakes of a reddish brown color flecked one side of the tub. Kain didn't find anyone in her room either. Kain knew a crime scene when he saw one, and called out for the lady not to touch anything.

Kain's first instinct was to call his commanding officer. He closed his eyes as he tried to recall the number Roy had given him back when they planned their poker night.

The phone rang three times before someone picked up.

"Hello," A gruff voice said.

"R-Roy Mustang please," Kain answered.

"I'm sorry, he can't speak with anyone with now, do you have a message?"

"Can you have him call Kain Fuery at—" the man cut him off.

"Fuery, Sergeant Kain Fuery?" Kain nodded as he answered in the affirmative. "Fuery, this is General Sierra. You've got a mission tonight, be at my office by the end of the hour," Andrew commanded and ended the conversation.

"Bu—but," Kain stuttered to the dail tone. "Miss, will you watch Black Hayate," Kain asked the woman staring at him.

"Sure, just stop calling me miss—I'm old enough to be your grandmother, young man."

"Thank you, mi-am," he caught himself just in time as he answered. He followed her back to her apartment, and advised her not to open the door for anyone else.

Hayate whimpered as he watched his spectacled savior walk away.

* * *

"Who are you?" Andrew asked the vaguely familiar red head sitting next to the man he had seen in Roy's apartment just two nights before. 

"He's a witness," Denny answered as he led the group down the hallway.

"You'll have to explain, but first," Andrew paused and turned to two of the men in uniform behind him to give orders, "Jacobs, test all the liquids in the refrigerator."

"Yessir!" the shorter of the two men replied—Denny recognized him as one of the men Maes had trained.

Andrew told the other officer to help Jacobs, and then he continued down the hall. He stood frozen in the doorway watching a strange scene—Maria Ross was using a damp cloth to wipe a blue mask off Roy's face. A white substance dotted various places on both alchemists—more so on the older one. Maria's gentle scrubbing revealed writing on Roy's face.

"I see that they were able to contact you Lieutenant Ross."

Maria turned around and looked at the general with wide eyes. "General Sierra, Sir." She got to her feet and saluted—the blued rag clutched tightly in her left hand behind her back.

"What is the current situation?"

"Well, uhm, Fullmetal isn't very fond of Colonel Mustang, so he—"

Andrew motioned for the doctor to check out his new patients and interrupted Maria, "No, not that, Al informed me of that over the phone. Sergeant Denny mentioned a witness. What is he claiming to have seen?"

Maria explained about Scar's abduction of Riza, and Ken following them, but left out all mention of the books and characters.

After the doctor confirmed that both alchemists were fine, Andrew made his way back to the main room. The shrill ringing of the phone stopped him from grilling the witness. Something was missing from the puzzle—he just couldn't figure it out.

"Hello," he barked into the phone. When the short conversation ended he called HQ for two medical transports.

"Everyone here is going to HQ. Jacobs, are the results ready?" he asked.

"Another minute or two."

"Sergeant Brosh keep on eye on these two. Jacobs, give me the results when they're ready. We'll move these two to the infirmary until they wake up." Andrew turned from the group and addressed the doctor, "Thank you for coming on such short notice again. We'll keep doing business with you in the future." He shook the doctors hand and ushered him out of the apartment.

"I've got the results, Sir. All liquids have tested positive. We're lucky Fullmetal didn't drink the milk. With his bodyweight it would have been a lethal dose for him. If it was the last thing Mustang drank he will be out for at least nine hours," Jacobs explained.

* * *

Jean may have been called slow on more than one occasion, but when Kain walked, practically ran, right between him and Shiezka without so much as a forced smile he decided that whatever was on the man's mind was more important than landing his first kiss with Schiezka. "Let's find out where the fire is," Havoc suggested as they turned and followed Kain. His mind was on his two commanding officers as they made their way towards HQ.

* * *

Julie fiddled with the black string around her neck as she searched the empty warehouse. She kicked an upturned box in frustration. "Where've they gone? They were here just a couple weeks ago my darling Roy," she spoke to the new medallion she caressed, a red plastic pouch tied closed with a black string, that rested in her cleavage. 

"You won't be able to find us again," Shelly said as she stepped out of the shadows. "Did you really think we'd stay in the same place after you threatened us? You would have been dead the second your threat reached our ears if master hadn't forbade it. He doesn't like unnecessary bloodshed. Scar has asked for you. If I ever see you seeking out our home again I won't hesitate to disappoint Master."

Julie went along peacefully since it was Scar she wanted to see, but she couldn't deny her curiosity. "Why are you helping Scar if he is going against your master's wishes?"

"Because he has our brother," a voice from behind her announced.

Julie whirled around. "Who're you?"

"My older brother," Shelly answered. "I'm not stupid enough to take on an armed military officer on my own."

"What do you mean he has your brother?" Julie asked.

"Scar's got something up his sleeve, and Ben almost freed it. Scar won't let anyone get in his way, not even family. I'm taking you to him in exchange for Ben."

* * *

Riza cast her eyes to the boy sitting in the corner. She quickly deduced that he must not be any older than Ed. His hair was a platinum blond—in fact it almost seemed to have no color at all, if not for the white wall she might have thought it white. "Why did you try to help me?" 

He raised his red eyes to meet hers. "The military will never let us live in peace if he kills you," was his simple reply.

"I was trained to get out of situations like this," she told him while her fingers worked at the knots Scar had retied when he discovered the boy squeezed behind her. What Scar hadn't known was that the boy hadn't untied any of the ropes. He was in sitting behind her in shock that she had freed herself.

"Why didn't you escape earlier?" the boy asked.

"I need the element of surprise on my side when I escape, and I need a little of his trust. If I had run earlier he would have been able to catch me since I'm unarmed and injured," she explained. After a moment she added, "Since I didn't try and run while I was unbound I've gained a little of his trust—he believes that I won't try anything."

**:)-------(:**

A.N.-Finally. This chapter is almost twenty pages long, bringing this fic to a whole 94 pages so far. Credit for the face painting with toothpaste goes to Paca on the Royai Forum. As for that red plastic pouch Julie is wearing around her neck, anyone care to guess where she got the red plastic from or what's inside it? Dailenna is the one who influenced that idea. Thanks to Last.Alchemist.Standing for brining up the question to Julie's behavior. I hadn't really touched on it yet. Andrew is General Sierra's first name for anyone who is confused. The next chapter should tie everything up.

Thank you for reviewing: Momiji-K, Breion, WinglessFairy25, Jennlyn78, UnheardGoodConscious, Perrenial Rhinitis, Last.Alchemist.Standing., Yun Min, Bizzy, Dailenna, Your Favorite Plushie, Dancing Nightmare, One More Bite, Riza Hawkeye 9, MoonStarDutchess, BlueRose.xoxo, AnimeLuvr8, OTP, AAR, SmokerBabe, OblivionEclipse, Mirage992, and Anne Packrat.


	11. Blue Prints and Rude Awakenings

I don't own anything that you've seen or read before in FMA

Many thanks to all the awesome people of the Royai Forum who have helped my while I've been struggling with this.

**:)-------(:**

"Good, you're here too," Andrew said to Jean who was sitting next to Schiezka and Kin in his office. "Forgive me, but I can't seem to recall your name and rank, officer," Andrew said to the brunette.

"Non-commissioned officer Schiezka Davies," she announced.**  
**

"Officer Davies, I'll need to pull you into this case. Go down to the intelligence office and search for blueprints of Central's sewer system. When you've found them we'll be in conference room 2D. Do you know where that is?"

Schiezka nodded, saluted, and left. Her mind was processing everything Kain had told her while she looked through the filing system to find the blueprints.

* * *

Andrew turned to Kain and Jean. "First Lieutenant Hawkeye was taken from her apartment by Scar. We have a witness who claims to know their current location. Both of you need to suit up in special op's uniforms, go to the ammunition room where Lieutenant Jacobs will supply you with the proper equipment. We'll reconvene in conference room 2D at 2130 hours. You'll be briefed there.

* * *

Schiezka nearly died when she saw the redhead sitting in conference room 2D with the black suited Maria Ross and Denny Brosh. "Ken Pierce?" she asked, although she didn't need anyone to verify that it was him. Ken looked up at the mention of his name. "The writer, right? I adore your work. When is the second book for _Military Affairs _coming out?" she asked as she put the rolled up blueprints on the table. 

"In a couple weeks," he said.

"Is what you told Maria true? Are they Roy and Riza?" she asked sitting down in the empty chair next to him. "Who's this?" she asked motioning towards the man sitting on the other side of Ken.

"Jeff meet Schiezka, Schiezka, Jeff," Maria introduced them. Schiezka looked back and forth between Maria and Jeff and then to Denny with bewilderment clear on her face. "He's Ken's friend," Maria explained, but Schiezka's confusion only grew. "Friend, f-r-i-e-n-d," Maria spelled it out for her. She didn't believe Schiezka could be so dense at times, but she'd been dragged along to more than one U.F.O. convention, so it wasn't too much of a stretch.

Schiezka laughed nervously and turned her attention back to Ken. "So am I right?" she asked.

Ken was about to answer, but Andrew made his appearance with Jean, Kain, and a few other soldiers outfitted the same way as Maria and Denny behind them.

"Are you right about what?" Andrew asked.

"Nothing, I just figured that he took her underground since you asked for the prints for the sewer system," Schiezka said, smoothing her skirt.

"Please, everyone take a seat. Mr. Pierce, please have a look at the blue prints and trace your steps," Andrew ordered. While Ken glanced over the sewer systems finding Riza's street on the prints Andrew explained about Roy's, Ed's, and Riza's current situations, only stopping when Kain cleared his throat and explained what he'd found in Riza's apartment.

"Mr. Pierce, where are we going?" Andrew asked looking over the section of the blue prints Ken held his finger on.

"This is where I came back up. If you follow this tunnel east, and then take the third on that goes south you'll find the underground city. He took her into the crooked lavender house that will be to your left. From what I could see no one else was there," he told everyone.

"We'll take four vehicles to that point and then go underground. Second Lieutenant Havoc, when you were guarding Roy Mustang approximately what time did he last go to sleep?" Andrew asked. He didn't want to take the chance of Roy waking up while they were gone, and have him try to be the hero when he found out what had happened.

"About 1700 hours, Sir," Jean said after a moment.

Andrew frowned, that would mean he could wake up within the next half hour, but he couldn't wait around. "Did he drink the milk?" one of the other men asked, making Andrew hope he did.

"No, I think it was tea," Jean informed them.

Andrew's frown deepened, if his memory was correct he'd been told the tea had the lowest concentration of the drug. "Second Lieutenant Ross, you'll be keeping an eye on Colonel Mustang. Sergeant Brosh, you'll be watching these two. Officer Davies, thank you for your help, you're dismissed. Everyone else, please follow me," Andrew administered the orders and left the room.

Schiezka told Jean not to get into any trouble and watched him walk away with a smile on her face. The tight black uniform he was wearing defined all his muscles splendidly for her to admire.

Her attention moved to Jeff as he spoke, "For an action writer you can be pretty stupid sometimes."

"You don't have to keep telling me, I know, I just didn't think they'd believe me," Ken groaned and buried his face in his arms folded on the table.

"You're right, some people wouldn't have believed you," Schiezka said, taking a seat at the table. "There are some people who have seen and believe strange things, while others completely refuse to believe anything out of the ordinary. If Hakuro were here he wouldn't have believed you, but Sierra is pretty open minded."

* * *

Maria sat in the infirmary glancing between the sleeping forms of Roy and Ed while trying to maintain a conversation with the distant Al. 

"Lieutenant Ross?" Al began.

"You can call me Maria," she told him, looking up from the ludicrously decorated face of Roy to Al.

"Miss Maria, Brother will be okay, right?" Al asked.

Maria smiled at Al. "Of course he will. The drug he's been given is used to put people into a deep sleep. I won't lie to you, it's sometimes used to kill people, but that would happen in the first 15 minutes of ingestion. He'll be fine Alphonse," she said, walking over to where he sat next to his brother and placing a hand on the cool metal shoulder of the suit of armor.

Al couldn't feel the contact, but his soul was warmed by the gesture. If he could he would have smiled up at her, but for now he had to make due with using his voice to convey his gratitude, "Thank you." He returned his gaze to his brother, and Maria returned to her seat by Roy's bed.

* * *

Shelly ignored Julie's complaints about the smell of the sewer and led her through the passages until they were in the underground city. Some of the structures were still in tact while others had completely collapsed. There were places where houses rested over the trenches of the sewers while rubble blocked other gutters. When her people had first discovered it they decided it would have been a good place if the area wasn't prone to heavy rain that would have flooded the area where the trenches were blocked up. 

Shelly found the crooked violet house and led Julie to the room on the second floor that Scar used as a bedroom. Her older brother stood watch outside the house.

Scar was waiting for them. "Wait until I finish talking to her, and then you can have your brother back," he said motioning for both Shelly and Julie to sit in the chairs in his room.

* * *

Roy opened his eyes, and pinched them shut again—the room was brighter than he normally kept it. He slowly opened them again, this time taking in his surroundings. His exclamations died into a cough before any coherent words left his mouth. 

"Here, this will help," Maria said, handing the coughing Roy a glass of water.

Roy looked at Maria Ross in confusion for a second, but grabbed the cup when his coughing didn't subside. While he drained the cup of the cool water he looked around the room. After a couple second he recognized it as the infirmary. His eyes landed on Fullmetal, and he pulled the cup away from his lips. "What's he doing here?" Roy asked.

"Same thing you are," Maria replied. "You've both been drugged into sleep. Someone slipped Inhibitor into all the liquids in your fridge," she explained.

"Who did it?" he asked.

"We don't know. The list of suspects is pretty high. It could have been Havoc, Mrow, the locksmith, your neighbor, or even Scar. Scar, Mrow, and Havoc being the top three suspects, but Havoc's pretty much off the list since he hasn't been to headquarters for a whole week," she answered.

"Why isn't Hawkeye on the list? She was in contact with me. She was probably with me more than anyone," he said, but he knew it couldn't have been her.

"Sir, she's been ruled out since…" Maria trailed off, unsure if she wanted to tell him.

"Since what?" he asked, knowing he wasn't going to like the answer. "Continue, Second Lieutenant," he ordered.

"Sir, I've been given orders to keep you here, and if that means holding back information I will," she said, rising from her seat.

"And who gave you these orders?" he asked, throwing aside the blanket, and standing in front of her.

"Brigadier General Sierra, Sir," she replied, holding her ground. She'd been trained in hand to hand combat by Armstrong, she wasn't easily intimidated, and beside that he didn't even have his gloves on.

Roy took a step closer, digging in his pockets for his gloves, and smirked when she took a step back. Maria smirked back and dropped down to her knees, sending a leg to swipe his feet out from under him.

Al watched the whole thing happen in slow motion. It was just like the time everyone had cornered Scar and Roy was going to try and use his alchemy while it was raining.

Roy rubbed the back of his head, which had collided with the metal frame of the bed, and his eyes widened in surprise, a chunk of hair was missing from right behind his left ear.

"Sorry Sir, but I was given orders to make sure you stay here," she said. She was standing up again, and held her hand out to him.

He gave her a blank look and nodded. He'd forgotten who her combat partner was. He sat back down on the bed, still fingering the patch of extremely short hair behind his ear. He had to find out what had happened, and then get past her without using his gloves. "Fine, tell me what happened, and I won't try to leave," he negotiated, pulling the gloves out of his right pocket and placing them on the bedside table.

Maria looked at the gloves and moved them out of his reach. "She's been taken by Scar, Sir."

Al jumped in his seat from the volume of Roy's cussing. Maria gave him a second to calm down and explained the entire situation to him. "General Sierra has taken four units out to the place where he's taken her. They'll find her," Maria said, trying not only to reassure him, but herself.

Roy swung his legs back over the side of the bed and stood up again.

"You gave me your word," Maria reminded him.

"I'm just going to the bathroom," he said, and made his way to the room at the end of the infirmary. Maria followed him and remained outside the closed door. She counted out the second until Roy saw Ed's artwork on his face.

Roy turned on the sink and flipped the light switch on. When he looked up into the mirror above the sink he let out another string of profanities at the image he saw. Undoubtedly the work of Fullmetal, no one else would have done something so juvenile. He could barely recall Jean telling him the Elrics would be taking over to watch him during the night. While he scrubbed his face with soap and hot water he was trying to find a way to get out from under Maria's watch.

After a few minutes of scrubbing with no fading of the marks on his face he gave up, but kept the tap running. He pulled on his second pair of gloves, and used the piece of chalk to draw a transmutation circle on the wall. If not for the current situation he would have felt like a teenager sneaking out from being grounded. He closed the wall back up and hurried to his locker. He was already going to be a magnet for wandering eyes with the cat whiskers and word useless Ed had given him. He didn't need to draw more attention to himself with flannel pants and a t-shirt on as he walked down the halls to request a car.

The officer at the car port handed the Flame Alchemist a pair of car keys with the number 76 engraved on the key chain. He held back his laughter until the raven haired alchemist passed out of sight.

* * *

Maria found what she was looking for after speaking with one of the nurses, rubbing alcohol. It would be the only thing that would take off the permanent marker on Roy's face. "Colonel Mustang," she called as she knocked on the door. He didn't answer, maybe he hadn't heard her over the running water. She called his name again, a little louder, but he didn't answer. She called a third time, no answer. She twisted the door knob, but it was locked. "Alphonse, can you unlock this for me?" she asked. 

Al pulled a piece of chalk from the bag he and his brother always carried around and did as Maria asked. Maria slammed her fist against the wall when she found the bathroom empty. "Thanks Al," she said through gritted teeth. She dropped the bottle at the nurses station and made or the car port. She knew she shouldn't have told him the location.

**:)-------(:**

A.N.-I'll have another chapter out tonight or tomorrow. I was going to post all of it at once, but I made some changes, and found a good place to break it up. Thanks for reading!

Thank you for reviewing: Lone-Whippoorwill, Momiji-k, DarkSamuraiPL, OTP, QTPie235, Dailenna, AnimeLuvr8, Jennlyn78, BlueRose.xoxo, MoonStarDutchess, Bizzy, Your Favorite Plushie, WinglessFairy25, Yun Min, Breion, UnheardGoodConscience, Perennial Rhinitis, Last.Alchemist,Standing, Dancing Nightmare, OneMoreBite, Riza Hawkeye 9, AAR, OblivionEclipse, Mirage992, Anne Packrat, Paca, and an anonymous reviewer.


	12. Turned Tables and Loopholes

I don't own the characters or plot lines of FMA, but I do own the original characters and plot of this story.

Edit made about 20 minutes after original post.

**:)-------(:**

"He's gone," Maria said as she burst into the room where Denny sat listening to Schiezka interrogating Ken about his characters.

"Who's gone?" Denny asked, although he was pretty sure he knew who she was talking about.

"Colonel Mustang, it's just like Ed and Al all over again! C'mon we've got to go find him. Schiezka, do you mind keeping those two here?" Maria asked, there was no way she was going to drag a writer and waiter along with her.

"Not at all," Shiezka said grinning at the two men sitting across from her.

Maria shook her head in disbelief as she heard Schiezka say something about aliens as Denny closed the door.

"How'd he get out?" Denny asked as they practically ran down to the car park.

"He transmuted a hole in the wall, and climbed out, then sealed it up. I passed someone in the hall who was talking about someone walking the halls with drawings on his face. When I questioned him I found out Colonel Mustang got a uniform and was headed for the car park. I thought I'd get you before I left. If he's got his gloves there's now way I can stop him on my own," she explained.

"Where's he going?" Denny asked.

"I told him about Lieutenant Hawkeye," she said as they reached the car park.

"Where's the fire tonight?" the officer in charge of the keys joked, in less than an hour he'd passed out five sets of keys, the last one to a certain alchemist, he knew something was up.

"Did the Flame Alchemist pass by?" Maria asked, brushing off the question.

The officer frowned at her, had she not gotten his joke? "Yeah, took car seventy-six," he said flatly, already pulling out a set of keys for her.

"Thanks," Denny said as he showed the proper identification in exchange for the keys marked 77.

* * *

Jean pulled the vehicle to a stop behind the one Andrew was driving. He tucked the keys into one of the few empty pockets he had, and watched everyone piling out of the four vehicles. The road they were on led out to the country, and street lights were few and far between, once the head lights were all out he could only make out impressions of the cars and people until Andrew turned on a flashlight. They gathered in the middle of the street around the circular metal disk of the manhole lid. He listened as Andrew explained their tactic. They would split up and enter the town from different passages on the south side. Jean was glad to hear that he and Kain were in the same group. 

He climbed down the old metal ladder and waited for his team to gather in the designated area. Andrew stood in the center of the gathering giving detailed instructions to all groups. It would still be another half hour before anyone left the area.

* * *

Scar turned away from his fellow Ishbalan's glare and focused on Julie. "Why didn't you tell me someone else would be there?" he asked. 

"I didn't know," she replied.

"Where is he now?"

"He's left town on assignment," she lied, moving her hands from the red plastic locket and folding them her lap.

"Why are you nervous?" he asked when he noticed the way she tried to stop her hands from straying to the red pouch tied around her neck.

"They know Riza Hawkeye is missing," she blurted out, hoping he would believe her.

"I knew they'd realize sooner or later. She's going to help me, or at least she claims so. A boy tried to help her escape today, but she stayed. She's starting to think like an Ishbalan."

"An Ishbalan?" Julie interrupted.

"She has to be Ishbalan with those eyes," he explained. "You're going to make sure they stay away from here, or they'll find out you helped me."

"Let me see her," Julie demanded. She softened her tone when Scar scowled at her, "We're friends, I just want to make sure she's okay."

Scar considered sending her away, but decided she could let the boy go for him while he went and gathered up the last few things he needed.

"Untie the kid in there and let him go," Scar said, leading her and Shelly to a room down the hall. "Shelly, make sure she leaves with you in five minutes. Remember Julie, if they find me everything I have points back to you."

Riza glared at the woman that opened the door. All it took was seeing the familiar face for all the pieces to fall into place.

* * *

Roy saw the dark lumps of vehicles on the side of the road, and passed over the manhole he knew they'd gone into. He used the beams of the head lights to follow the road until he saw the next manhole. He made a sharp turn into the dark countryside, cutting across the field south until he reached the next street over. He didn't know how large the city was, but he didn't take the chance of passing it. He steered the car to the side of he road and pulled the manhole cover aside and climbed down the rickety ladder.

* * *

Julie smiled sweetly at Riza while she freed the boy from his bindings. "You go and wait outside while we grown ups talk," she said, patting him on the back. 

Ben looked over t Riza and left when she nodded at him. "How cute, the boy's worried about you," Julie mocked as she closed the door behind the him.

Riza set her jaw as Julie approached her. It was always good to let the opponent think they had the upper hand. Julie took a seat on the bed with her knees tucked under her inches from the cross-legged Riza. Riza didn't flinch as Julie's cold, manicured fingers dug into her chin, but kept her jaw clenched and eyes narrowed. Soon, all she could see was Julie's porcelain face, and all she could smell was her sickly sweet, minty breath. Riza's heart was pounding in her ears from the anger of Julie's betrayal.

"You didn't think Roy Mustang really cared about you, did you?" Julie asked in a whisper. Riza kept her lips in their firm line, and Julie smiled. "Good, scum like you doesn't deserve him. That's all you are, an Ishbalan piece of scum," Julie said, spitting in her face. Riza's only response was a flash of anger in her eyes. She reminded herself to wait for the right moment. "No one cares about you. Nobody's stopped by your apartment to see how you're doing. If they did they would have noticed your door was left unlocked, but it's too late for that now. You're going to die here, and Scar won't even know until I'm long gone. Then Roy will be all mine," Julie said, he free hand going for the gun tucked in her pants under to coat she wore.

Riza saw the moment she'd been waiting for, and rammed her forehead into Julie's nose. The raven-haired woman fell backwards with blood pouring down her painted lips and ivory chin. She started to scream, but it turned into a choked gurgle as she sucked the metallic liquid in with her breath.

Riza grabbed the gun Julie had loosened her grip on and tucked it into her waistband in the middle of her back. She found the piece of cloth she'd torn from the bed sheets earlier and stuck it in Julies mouth the quiet any screams she might attempt. Before the traitor could react further Riza pinned her flailing arms under her legs, her right leg protested to the pressure, but she bit back the pain.

Julie brought up her knees as far as she could and attempted to hit Riza's back. She landed one blow before Riza bent over and placed a sweaty hand on each side of her face. Riza never had to come into such close physical contact with her opponents before while keeping them silenced. She'd never used this tactic before, and hoped she never would again. With trained, but not seasoned, fingers she found the proper points under the base of the jaw with her thumbs and behind the bottom of the ears with her index fingers. After a minute or two of heavily applied pressure Julie lost consciousness from the pain and shock of decreased blood pressure.

With that done Riza tied the woman up and checked for any other concealed weapons. She hesitantly opened the red pouch hanging around her neck, took it, and emptied the contents on the bed—nothing but fine, short black hairs. Riza looked at Julie and remembered her words about Roy. Her mind came to the conclusion that the hair must have bent taken from her superior officer's head, and as she thought about that she recalled the red shower curtain that hung in his bathroom. She rubbed her fingers over the plastic material and threw it across the room in disgust. She gave her knots a final check, ungaged the woman, propped her up against the headboard of the bed, and walked towards the slowly opening door.

She drew her newly acquired gun and pointed it at the woman standing in front of her. "Come on, before he gets back," Shelly said.

Riza took note of Ben huddled at the woman's side, and after a brief silent exchange said, "Lead the way."

She checked the clip of ammunition as the walked to the stair case—fully loaded, perfect.

* * *

Roy walked through the sewers going south at the second tunnel he passed. He made sure to mark his way by scorching the corner he turned at. 

Maria spotted the place Andrew had stopped at and pulled to the side of the road.

"Only four cars," Denny observed.

"Dammit," Maria hissed, pulling back to the road. She looked both ways and saw skid marks under the lamppost a ways ahead. She drove to the area with her eyes carefully scanning the street. She was awarded with tire tracks in the dirt field. She followed the tracks and found the car with MP 76 marked on the plate in the bumper. "We've got him," she told Denny and pulled the car up behind the other one. Maria checked the car to make sure he wasn't inside, annoyed by the light drizzle that started, while Denny pulled the manhole cover away from the sewer entrance. Maria climbed down first, and Denny pulled the manhole cover closed above him before he descended the ladder.

* * *

"My brother, Peter," Shelly said as Riza pointed her gun at him when he entered the house. Riza took her aim off him and gave a weak smile. 

"Through the back door, Scar is coming," he said, pointing in the other direction.

Riza was now at the middle front of the group—Peter with a gun in the lead, Ben behind her, and Shelly bringing up the rear, holding the gun she had pulled from one of her coat pockets.

* * *

Jean walked with the rest of his unit through the tunnel with Andrew at their head. He held up a hand for everyone to stop. "Remember this is a rescue mission, hold you're fire unless they shoot first. Our witness says it was only Scar down here, but we can't be sure. I want the assigned officer, you know who you are, to stay at the rear of each group. If we seem to be outnumbered go back to the unit where we entered and send them in, if someone doesn't report back to you in twenty minutes report back to HQ. Remember, all we're doing is going straight down these sewers, clear intersecting paths, but don't stray from the plan. Let's go," Andrew commanded, watching the other two units file into their own tunnels, and then leading his own team down the center one.

* * *

Once they got far enough into one of the sewers Riza started to slow down, the ache in her leg increasing with every step. 

"Are you okay?" Ben asked

"Yeah, I'll be fine," she said and resumed her pace.

"It's your leg isn't it?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she said, regretting that she'd told him during their time spent together, and she pushed on.

* * *

Scar dropped the last of the supplies he needed in his room and opened the door where Riza was, but he found the raven-haired woman struggling against her bonds in Riza's place. 

"What the hell did you do?" Scar shouted.

"Me? It was that blonde slut. Her hands weren't tied, why didn't you tell me?" Julie yelled back

"Damn kid," Scar muttered at his foolish weakness. He shouldn't trust anybody, not even his own people anymore. He was weary of untying Julie, this entire thing could be a set up. An echo brought his attention to the sewer entrances he could see from the window.

* * *

"What was that for Sergeant," Andrew asked, turning to the wide-eyes officer pointing his gun into one of the other tunnels. 

"Sorry, I saw something, but it was just a really big rat, Sir," he said, re-holstering his pistol.

"That just cost us our element of surprise," Andrew said, motioning for everyone to run forward. He hadn't had any other choice but to bring the green newbies with him, they composed the majority of officers scheduled on the graveyard shift. He'd have to put in to get that changed as soon as he could, hopefully he'd be as successful with that as he was with the changes made to the handbook.

* * *

Scar untied Julie and grabbed the gun in his room. "Your lovely military knows I'm here," he said pulling her down the stairs. If need be he still had a hostage. 

They went out the back door as he heard someone shout, "There's the lavender house!"

* * *

Roy heard steps echoing in the sewer approaching him and ducked down the tunnel nearest him. 

"Almost there, are you going to make it?" he heard a deep male voice ask as the sound of steps slowed.

"Yeah, fine, keep going," a clipped female voice answered. Roy knew that voice, it had to be Riza's.

He waited for them to pass, and when he saw the brief glimpse of her blond hair tied up in the usual way run right past his hiding spot he called to her. He couldn't see them, but he knew three guns were pointed at him. He snapped, giving them light to see him.

Riza lowered her gun, and the others followed suit. "My superior officer, Colonel Roy Mustang," Riza told them.

As he approached them everyone's attention shifted to the water, which got louder as it started to rise in the trench.

"Storm," Peter said, jerking his head upwards.

* * *

Scar dragged Julie behind him, ignoring her complaints about his pace, someone had spotted them, and he refused to be caught. He heard the faint sound of voices up ahead, and slowed down. "If you don't keep quiet I'll make sure you won't ever speak again," he threatened Julie and made his foot steps silent.

* * *

When Riza leaned against the wall and looked from the rapidly rising water to Roy she raised an eyebrow in bewilderment. "Sir," she began to question his appearance, but stopped when movement further down the passage caught her eyes. 

Roy whipped around and looked in the direction Riza's gun was pointed. Riza frowned, she didn't like the prospect of combat in such places, she much preferred open spaces, but she would have to make do. The click of the safety being removed was amplified in the cement corridors.

"Go," Roy called over his shoulder to the Ishbalan siblings. "I've got a car up there. Take the third turn to your right, and go up the second ladder."

"We'll be fine," Riza called when they hesitated.

"Third right, second ladder," Peter mumbled, pulling his brother and sister along with him.

Scar dashed towards Roy.

"No!" Julie screamed and lunged towards Scar. He was mid-step when she hit him with her full force, and second later he was in the rushing water of the sewer. He swam with the current past the two women aiming guns at him.

Riza had straightened up, ignoring the incessant throbbing in her leg, watched Scar sink under the water and pulled the trigger, even though she knew it probably wouldn't cause him any damage--water reduced the impact of bullets with every inch they went.

Roy watched the running water with both disappointment and satisfaction. On one hand he hadn't been able to repay Scar for the wound on his subordinate's leg, but one the other he was now taking a bath in waste from all the plumbing in Central.

"Sir," Riza said jolting him from his musings.

Julie approached them, with the gun she had grabbed from Scar as she knocked him over still in her hand.

"We're you in the raid with General Sierra's team?" Roy asked, taking note of her dark clothing.

"I'm glad you're okay," she said, brushing off his question,

Riza put herself in front of Roy and took the proper shooting stance, the barrel of her gun pointed at Julie.

"Lieutenant?" Roy asked, confused by the current predicament.

"She's been helping Scar all along," Riza told him.

"But she just—"

Riza cut him off, "She just saved your life, because she's obsessed with you Roy. If you hadn't have been here she'd have let Scar keep going until I was dead. It's been her intent the entire time."

"Lieutenant Mrow, just put the gun down and you won't get hurt," Roy informed her, his eyes flashing in the light of the fire.

* * *

"Stop, identify yourselves and your business," Maria shouted, her gun aimed at the three people who had been running towards her. 

"We've been sent this way by Riza Hawkeye and Roy Mustang," Ben replied when his brother and sister kept their silence.

"Take us to them," Denny ordered.

* * *

"No, if I can't have you no one will," Julie declared and pulled the trigger. 

Riza reflected her action, pushing Roy out of the way as she fired a round. Roy snapped and joined the battle. Julie nimbly dodged the bullets and flames from her opponents, her efforts focused on Roy. When she ran out of bullets Roy ordered Riza to hold her fire.

"I don't want to kill you," he told Julie.

Julie gave a strangled cry and launched herself at him, but she crumpled on the floor in front of him.

Riza looked in the direction of the bullet and saw Andrew holstering his pistol with a group of men behind him. Riza moved back to the wall for support.

"Ross, I thought I told you to make sure he didn't come trying to play the hero," Andrew called, marching towards them with his teams in tow.

Roy whirled around and saw Maria and Denny standing not far behind them, the three Ishbalans were peeking out from around the corner of the nearest tunnel.

"I tried, Sir," Maria said, saluting Andrew.

"Who are those three?" he asked, his question directed at Roy and Riza.

"They helped me escape from Scar, Sir," Riza said, straightening up as she she gave a salute.

"We'll need them for questioning. Ross, Brosh take them to HQ."

"Yes, Sir," they replied in unison, and went back the way they had come.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye how's your leg?" he asked, noting her clenched jaw.

"Last time I checked some of the stitched had ripped, Sir," she answered, earning her a look of concern from Roy.

"Relax, Lieutenant," Andrew said, and then turned to Roy. "We'll have your arm checked out when he give the doctor a house call," he said, leaving the harsher words for later.

Riza eyes darted to Roy's arm where he'd been grazed by a bullet.

"How do we get back to our cars, Lieutenant Jacobs?" Andrew called, walking back to his group of men.

"We can use that tunnel right past Lieutenant Hawkeye and Colonel Mustang, Sir. It will take us back to the first tunnel we were in," he replied.

"Team three, I believe you're all in the recovery field, transport the body back to HQ. We'll return to HQ. Sergeant Fuery, Lieutenant Havoc take these two back to Roy's car, and drive them back to HQ, we'll have a doctor meet you at the infirmary. Make sure to bandage his arm before he loses anymore blood," Andrew ordered, and saluted them before he left.

Jean and Kain walked up to their commanders with relief that both were okay. "C'mon let's get you two home," Jean said, supporting Riza with an arm hooked under her shoulders.

Roy and Kain followed, and they made it to the ladder without any problems. Riza ignored their protests and climbed up to the street without any help, as did Roy.

The car ride back to HQ was filled with an awkward silence, none of them dared to break.

* * *

"You know Miss Hawkeye, bed rest means staying in bed. If you can't promise not to get into any trouble they'll have to keep you here until your leg's healed," the doctor chastised as he stitched up her leg for the second time that week. 

She looked away from Roy, who was scrubbing what she had learned was Ed's off his face with a towel dampened with rubbing alcohol and smiled weakly as she watched the threaded needle bob in and out of the torn skin of her calf. After so many years of being with the military seeing her own skin sewn up didn't have the same effect anymore, but when the doctor finished and went onto tend to the wound on Roy's shoulder she had to look away. She could have stopped that from happening if she hadn't of let him try to calm Julie down.

When Roy was given a fresh bandage Andrew debriefed both of them on the events of the past week. "Colonel Mustang, I am glad to see such deep concern for your subordinates in you, but next time you act so rashly a court marshal could be the consequences. As for you Lieutenant Hawkeye, you can do your paperwork from home if you insist on it, but we'll have to send someone over to make sure you aren't going to prolong the healing process. Colonel Mustang seems like a good candidate for the job. Oh, and don't forget to read through the new handbook," he said, handing them each a copy of the average size book of blue with the Armestrian flag on the cover. "There have been a few changes like dress code—the hem of all skirts must fall no more than an inch above the knee when standing, the wage for medical leave as been increased, and a the fraternization laws have been changed—I think we'll see more than a few relationships blossoming quickly in the next few weeks. Lieutenant Havoc and Sergeant Fuery have been ordered to see you both home," Andrew finished, and left after salutes were exchanged.

When Andrew left a myriad of visitors joined them in the infirmary, one of which apologized to her for not letting the military know what he had witnesses as soon as he saw it and laid another book on top of the handbook Andrew had given her. She thanked him and read the cover _Military Affairs III: Loopholes_ by Ken Pierce.

**:)-------(:**

A.N.- And thus end the tale of Military Affairs. I'll be back with an epilogue in a day or two. I hope you've enjoyed the story as much asd I have enjoyed writing it! Thanks for reading!

Thank you for reviewing: Dancing Nightmare, BlueRose.xoxo, MoonStarDutchess, OTP, AnimeLuvr8, Yun Min, Dailenna, WinglessFairy25, Bizzy, Lone-Whippoorwill, Momiji-k, DarkSamuraiPL, QTPie235, Jennlyn78, BlueRose.xoxo, Your Favorite Plushie, Breion, UnheardGoodConscience, Perennial Rhinitis, Last.Alchemist,Standing, OneMoreBite, Riza Hawkeye 9, AAR, OblivionEclipse, Mirage992, Anne Packrat, Paca, and an anonymous reviewer.


	13. Epilogue

I don't own any characters or plotlines from FMA

**:)-------(:**

Riza was out of work for a little over a total of two weeks, and people had noticed Roy's frequent absences. Only the higher ups and the others involved in the raid on the underground city knew he was actually on working away from the office.

* * *

"Have you guys heard the latest rumors?" Jean asked with a grin as he walked into the office on the fourth day of Roy's "mysterious" absence. 

"Marriage and honeymoon," Kain reported with a frown, already pulling out his wallet.

"I believe you all owe me something," he said, and collected money from his co-workers.

"I think I'll take Schiezka to that classy restaurant on the other side of town tonight," he said, picking up the phone and waiting for the operator to connect him to the restaurant.

Later that day Denny poked his head into the officer to give Jean his winnings. "Why don't you and Maria come with me and Schiezka tonight," Jean suggested.

"Can't make it," Denny replied vaguely.

"Why not," Jean prodded.

"We've kind of got plans," Denny quickly elaborated a blush rising to his cheeks when all the eyes in the office turned to him.

"Good man, I was counting on that," Jean smirked. The rest of the men in the office gave a collective grumble and were, once again, pulling out their wallets.

Denny walked out of the office growling about people profiting off his personal life.

* * *

Roy Mustang dutifully strolled into HQ during an hour that he would have never thought he'd be there, 0600 hours, more than two hours earlier than his usual arrival. He dropped a stack of completed documents on Jean's desk and grabbed the new stack from his desk, and the one from his first lieutenant's desk. 

With those tucked into his black leather suitcase, one he hadn't used in years, he walked in the brisk morning air to Riza Hawkeye's apartment. On the way he stopped at the café his neighbor owned.

"Morning Roy," Jeff greeted. "You're up early again."

"Yeah, off to work. Can I get two croissants—"

"Cinnamon apple tea, and coffee for you?" Jeff finished for him, already grabbing two cups from beside him.

Roy was about to question his neighbor's knowledge, but dropped it, knowing the question would only be answered with a knowledgeable grin and reply of 'I have a good memory.' Instead he shocked Jeff with his statement, "Actually make that the peach tea, keep the coffee."

"Good to know she's trying something new. How's she like the book?"

"She's not quite finished yet," Roy replied. That statement was another shock to Jeff. He thought she would have finished it quickly. Roy chuckled at his friend's bewilderment. "She insists on doing her paperwork every day," he said, omitting the other reason for her slow progress on the novel.

* * *

Roy could barely hear Hayate's paws dancing on the tile floor over the ringing of the phone as he juggled, briefcase, cup holder, and bag in one hand, unlocking the door with the other. He quickly closed the door, shoved the keys back in his coat pocket, and set down everything in his other hand as he lifted the receiver of the telephone. "Hello, Hawkeye residence," he answered. 

"Good morning Roy is my granddaughter up?" A familiar voice asked.

"General Grumman? How'd you know it was me?" Roy asked.

"General Sierra told me you'd probably be there, something about her not taking it easy on her leg injury. You know, he was one of my subordinates here in Eastern also. Of course, he was promoted and transferred to Central long before you were here. He helped me write up the letters concerning some of the regulations that got changed recently. His wife worked for the military before they got married. I remember how shaken up he was when they both got called into the Fuhrer's office. He told me they were either forced to end their relationship or have one of them retire. His wife, back then girlfriend, left and found a job at the local hospital with the medical skills she possessed. Now I'm just rambling. Is Riza awake?" he asked.

"Let me go check," Roy said, putting the receiver on the table. He reached down to pet Hayate and turned to walk down the hall, but stopped when Riza emerged, dressed for the day with a towel draped across her shoulders. "Your grandfather's on the phone. You should just stay in your room like the doctor said."

"I'm not going to sit in bed without a shower," she replied while she slowly made her way to him. He got a chair from the table and made her sit down as she talked with her grandfather. "Yes, I'm fine. It was nothing really. Yes, a bullet grazed his arm. No, they haven't found Scar…"

Roy put the drinks and croissants on the table, and then opened his briefcase and separated their piles of work.

* * *

Riza skin jumped at the contact of Roy's fingers on her stomach. "Stop, I'm almost finished," she scowled, moving his hand back to her shoulder. She took a second to find her place at the bottom of the second to last page and continued reading. 

_Joseph listened to Charlotte insist on being read a bed time story by Elizabeth. The girl seemed to be clinging to all things familiar in their new home. He briefly wondered how long it would take his niece to adapt to the foreign ways of Mertz, but something told him that it wouldn't take long with Elizabeth there to help him teach her. He half listened as Elizabeth recited the tale of Snow White to the half-asleep Charlotte, but his mind was elsewhere, on the first night he had watched the ritual between the two. It was that night that he knew Elizabeth was the only woman he'd ever want to take as a wife. He was brought back to the present when Elizabeth gave him a light push. _

_"She's finally asleep," Elizabeth told him, closing the door halfway as they walked into the hall. _

_"You've always been good with her, Liz," he said, grinning at her._

_"If it weren't for her I don't think I ever would have changed my mind about you," Elizabeth joked._

_"So you married me because my niece?" he asked, drawing her closer than the night he'd accused her of having more than a "professional relationship" with his charge._

_"Let's just say she won my heart before you did," she elaborated. _

_"But I've still won your heart" he stated with a smirk, wrapping his arms around her waist. She didn't get the chance to nod in response before he claimed her lips for his prize. _

Riza smiled in satisfaction as she put the book on the little coffee table in front of her and moved the blanket aside in order to get up.

"Where do you think your going?" Roy asked, pulling her back down against his side.

"To put my book on the shelf," she answered.

"No, I order you to stay here," he said, pulling her closer, so that she was almost in his lap.

"We're off duty, Sir," she retorted, glancing at her watch.

"The doctor gave strict orders to keep you off your feet as much as possible. If you want the book put away I'll do it," he said.

"Just leave it there for now. If you put it back I'd just have to put it in the right place later," she replied, covering herself with the blanket again, and shifting against him.

"Comfortable?" he asked when she finally settled.

She nodded and mumbled, "Tired, too," as she yawned into her hand. He looked at the watch on her wrist in shock. It was much later than he'd thought. He'd been so caught up in watching (and distracting her) while she read that the time flew by without warning. "It's late. You'll just worry me if you walk home now," she said, reading his mind.

"I guess I can use your couch if you insist," he said, thoughts of going home already vanquished from his mind.

"I do," she affirmed, closing her eyes.

**:)-------(:**

A.N.-Thanks for reading. I hope you've enjoyed the tale from beginning to end. I think this has tied up everything. Anything left that you have questions about?

Thank you for reviewing: AAR, Jennlyn78, AnimeLuvr8, BlueRose.xoxo, The Writer of Midnight, MoonStarDutchess, WinglessFairy25, Dancing Nightmare, OTP, Yun Min, Dailenna, Bizzy, Lone-Whippoorwill, Momiji-k, DarkSamuraiPL, QTPie235, Your Favorite Plushie, Breion, UnheardGoodConscience, Perennial Rhinitis, Last.Alchemist,Standing, OneMoreBite, Riza Hawkeye 9, OblivionEclipse, Mirage992, Anne Packrat, Paca, and an anonymous reviewer.


End file.
